Category: Featured Articles (Sept – Oct 2014)

Briefly discuss Irene Njeru (background-personal and as a grower)

I am a graduate in horticulture with a Masters in business administration (Entrepreneurship) and a Post graduate diploma in marketing. I started my working life in 1999 in the floriculture industry until now mostly in pack house, quality and marketing departments. in different flower farms.

You have been marketing flowers for most of your professional life, if you would have to give your remarks about being a flower marketer, what would they be?

Being a flower marketer is very interesting, has its challenges especially during low periods but gives great satisfaction when I am able to take the company successfully through this hard times. The success of the company depends largely how the sales and marketing strategies are implemented.

In your experiences, briefly discuss the vase life and transportability and marketing of flowers in Kenya?

The products from Kenya have a good vase life compared to products from other countries mostly because of the information that is readily available to growers on different post harvest treatments and also because of the seriousness of the partners in business on the cool chain process.

Transportation of flowers from Kenya to various destinations is not a problem as there are enough flights that pass our country however there is limitation of business with some countries due to very expensive freight rates an example being America.

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.” There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.

He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?” The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.” I wrote: “Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it.”

We live in a great country that God created so beautifully with bushes where the wild animals live in harmony, the great beaches where the Indian Ocean rests so peacefully in the coastal region, the snowcapped mountain that is so highly recognized and the great landscapes of the rift valley, beautiful farms with rice, wheat, coffee, tea, fruits and flowers, herds of cows, goats and all the livestock, and most of all the great diversity in the people; Bantu’s, Cushites and Nilotes! All blended together to make this great land called Kenya.

Varieties are valued at millions, often billion of US dollars. For many successful breeders their varieties represent their most-prized assets. So why are varieties valuable?

I take this opportunity to welcome you to mZurrie Ltd. We are indeed honoured to celebrate our 1st anniversary as a group. It marks an important milestone in our history and commitment not only to our partners but the entire Floriculture fraternity.

Who are we?
mZurrie Flowers is a group of three flower growing farms which centrally managed. The board has invested in a professional Chief Executive Officer who moderates and monitors all the progress from a central office. The three farms namely Winchester farm, Maji Mazuri Flowers and Molo River Farm are run by professional General Managers. The three oversee the day to day running in their individual farms.

Continually improving its range of agricultural innovations to suit the ever changing global environmental conditions and European floriculture markets regulations, Amiran introduced the Amiran Plastic Mulch, an effective, safe generation product from Ginegar Limited, the world’s 2nd largest producer of plastic.

Brought into the country at a time when the agricultural sector was challenged with water shortages due to the 2007-8 drought that hit most parts of the country, Amiran Plastic Mulch has helped farmers to save on cost and conserve water resources with its numerous benefits.

Kenya’s flower industry has been on impressive highs, having surmounted several lows to remain among the most preferred globally. Changes in weather which have hit

Rwandan farmers engaged in food and export-oriented agriculture will benefit from a 50 per cent subsidy on irrigation equipment, one of the means the government has devised to enhance the production of fresh produce (fruits, vegetables, flowers) for the local and export market.

Amb Claver Gatete, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, says the initiative will help reduce the country’s expenditure on food imports, especially rice, and expand the exports base.

“We are confident this scheme will boost the sector’s productivity and, eventually, increase our exports, especially from the horticulture sub-sector,” the minister said.

He says that both small and large-scale farmers, particularly those engaged in production of export-oriented crops, will benefit from the subsidy.

As the curtain opens on the Naivasha Horticultural Fair 2014 Exhibition, the 12th edition, there is barely room for any shortcoming that may inhibit its success. All minds and hands that know what it entails have been up and down to try to put different pieces together to make what can be seen as the true spirit of the regional horticultural industry.

The event, since its first ever occurrence has continued to aggressively spread its tentacles world over, luring to its importance the most reputed and less comparable companies in various business of sorts.

The beginning of the event concept wasn’t such humble though the humility and value that is endowed in the event itself reflects a totally different picture. Good institutional organization, positive projection and a solemn consideration of participant’s interest.