Bʏ Cʜᴀʀʟᴇs Mᴜᴛᴇᴍᴀ, Bᴜsɪɴᴇss Lᴇᴀᴅ, Cᴏʀᴛᴇᴠᴀ Aɢʀɪsᴄɪᴇɴᴄᴇ Kᴇɴʏᴀ
December 11, 2025
Kenya’s floriculture industry, one of the most valuable export sectors, is confronting a convergence of pressures that threaten its long-term competitiveness.
Without urgent interventions, Kenya risks losing its advantage in a market where quality, compliance, and sustainability now command the highest premiums.
The broader horticulture industry plays a crucial role in the agricultural economy, supporting millions of livelihoods directly and through its extensive value chain, while also serving as a significant source of export earnings.
While the sector remains a cornerstone of the economy, the environment in which flower growers operate has never been more complex. The scale of the industry underscores why safeguarding its competitiveness must be a national priority.
Flower export destinations, particularly in Europe, continue to impose stricter standards as policies evolve. These standards require heightened traceability, lower chemical residues, environmental sustainability, and verifiable carbon management, all factors that increase compliance costs.
For small and medium-sized growers, who form a significant portion of the floriculture base, meeting these requirements can be overwhelming.
The regulatory burdens at home add further strain as multiple taxes, levies, license fees, and shifting policy directives increase the cost of production and introduce uncertainty into an industry that thrives on predictability.
Infrastructure limitations such as poor road networks, inadequate cold storage, and congestion at export hubs also contribute to rising costs and shrink exporters’ margins.
Disease pressure is escalating as well. Fungal diseases, such as powdery mildew and botrytis, continue to challenge growers, and over-reliance on older, less effective crop protection solutions increases the risk of resistance.
When these products become less reliable, growers are forced to apply them more frequently, which not only increases costs but also raises the risk of exceeding residue limits, jeopardizing access to premium export markets.
To build a more sustainable and competitive future, Kenya’s floriculture industry must embrace several interconnected strategies. Innovation in crop protection must be prioritized.
There is a need to introduce newer and more effective tools that reduce reliance on outdated pesticides and chemicals.
The floriculture sector has vast potential, but its resilience depends on modernizing the tools available to farmers and all stakeholders across the value chain, which moves produce from soil to market, and ensuring that the regulation keeps pace with scientific progress.
This would ensure that floriculture remains a strong pillar of the national economy while protecting the livelihoods of millions of Kenyans.
This must be paired with stronger integrated pest management systems, supported by research institutions to anticipate emerging pest and disease threats.
We have not stood still as an industry. We have been actively responding by investing in modern crop protection solutions with new modes of action that help manage resistance more sustainably.
This must go in tandem with strengthening Integrated Crop Management (IPM) systems, adopting preventive approaches, and incorporating monitoring tools that help predict and respond to emerging disease threats more efficiently.
As an industry partner, we support ongoing regulatory efforts aimed at strengthening efficiency and adaptation so that innovative, safe, and effective crop protection solutions can be made available to growers promptly.
Across the sector, partnerships between research institutions, agricultural companies such as Corteva Agriscience, and universities will help generate localized data on pests, diseases, and climate impacts, allowing growers to make more informed decisions.
Equipping growers with the knowledge needed to meet global compliance standards, from residue management and documentation to environmentally responsible agronomic practice, is also essential.
Innovation in crop protection should therefore not be a peripheral consideration but a central driver of resilience. Infrastructure development is equally important. Expanding cold-chain capacity, rehabilitating rural roads, and improving efficiency at ports and airports would reduce post-harvest losses and uphold product quality.
Charles Mutema is the Business Lead, Corteva Agriscience Kenya
–This Article was first published on Business Daily Africa–