Farmers in the hub of Kenya’s thriving flower industry fear the rise in fuel prices in east Africa’s biggest economy could harm one of the country’s top exchange earners by raising flight and other input charges.
Farmers in the hub of Kenya’s thriving flower industry fear the rise in fuel prices in east Africa’s biggest economy could harm one of the country’s top exchange earners by raising flight and other input charges.
The effects of the economic down turn being experienced in Kenya as a result of the depreciation of the shilling and hiked inflation is cutting across all sectors including the horticulture sector.
Kenya’s leading foreign exchange earner the horticultural sector, has shown significant growth with various farms expanding their territories and others acquiring new business ventures. In essence the sector is projected to grow at a minimum rate of 15% this year egged on by the expected opening up of the new high value market.
If you triple the wages of workers, the prices of produce will shoot up and Kenya will lose its markets abroad, thus having the opposite effect from what was intended”
As Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) becomes an increasingly hot topic when it comes to public opinion and it’s starting to drive the market. Solopant Kenya Ltd has engaged a higher gear by entering the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon to reach a wider community.
Flowers & Astrology
Astrology is any of several traditions or systems in which knowledge of the apparent positions of celestial bodies is held to be useful in understanding, interpreting, and organizing knowledge about reality and human existence on earth. Many of those who practice astrology believe the positions of certain celestial bodies either influence or correlate with people´s personality traits, important events in their lives, and even physical characteristics.
The Dutch company NeBu Flowers is about to start in 2012 a new rose farm in the Central African country of Burundi. The greenhouse builder company Bosman is already busy in preparing the erection of some 210 ha of greenhouses, not far away from the international airport of the Capital City Bujumbura, near Lake Tanganyika, on a grounds allocated by the local government.
In spite of the excellent climate for flowerproduction and various government incentives, the export of Mexican flowers is still in its infancy. While Columbia and Ecuador export billions of dollars worth of flowers to the United States every year, Mexican export – even with the much shorter distance – only accounts for some hundred million dollars.
As the worst power rationing in Tanzania’s recent history continues to bite, horticulture industry players demand plans to privatise power generation and distribution of electricity to provide a buffer for the national grid. “We are still of the opinion that the process of privatising power generation should be enhanced and further include power supply,” said a statement issued through the executive director of the Tanzania Horticultural Association (Taha), Ms Jacquiline Mkindi.
Fresh produce exporters to European Union (EU) markets are counting gains as the stronger euro boosted their earnings after it hit record-highs against the shilling. The Kenyan Shilling has shed 30 per cent of its value against the euro in the past seven months — a move that has seen flower and fruit exporters gain extra 30% for every unit of produce they sell to the EU.