Horticulture overtook tourism and the tea sector to become Kenya’s top foreign-exchange earner in 2007.
According to figures released by the government, the flower sub-sector alone earned Ksh43 billion ($614 million) in the year up from Ksh23 billion ($328 million) in 2006, while fruits and vegetables earned Ksh13 billion ($185 million), the best performance in the 50 years of the sector’s existence.
The sector has grown by more than 300 per cent over the past decade.
“Kenya’s earnings from flower sales jumped 79 per cent to Ksh43 billion in 2007 while 2008 has begun well for the industry going by January figures,” said the Kenya Flower Council, citing government reports.
Production in 2007 stood at 91,192 tonnes, up from 86,480 tonnes for the same period the previous year. Exports for the month of January rose to 8,495 tonnes, a 15 per cent increase, compared with 7,388 tonnes same time last year, signalling a good start for the sector.
The flower sector registered a monthly export record for cut flowers in January this year, despite low expectations for the industry following post-election violence that displaced many workers, especially in Naivasha. The sector earned Ksh66 billion ($942 million) in 2007, up from the Ksh49 billion ($700 million) earned in 2006, overtaking tea whose earnings for 2007 decreased to Ksh43 billion ($614 million) from Ksh49 billion ($700 million) in 2006.
Tourism, which has been the highest foreign-exchange earner since 2004 after years of recession, earned Ksh56 billion ($800 million) last year and was projected to grow this figure by a further 16 per cent, but the Kenya Tourist Board says that the sector has, for the first quarter of 2008 lost 90 per cent of its projected earnings as it grapples with the effects of post-election violence that have seen tourist arrivals reduced to a trickle.
The leap in earnings from flower exports in January came as a surprise considering that the main growing areas of Kericho, Mt Elgon, Elburgon and Eldoret were among the worst affected by the post-election violence.
Naivasha, arguably the country’s flowerbed, was rocked by violence barely a week before Valentines’ Day, the sector’s most lucrative season. But not only were the ordered volumes delivered, the sector is said to be well prepared for the high season, which goes on until May.
According to the Kenya Flower Council chief executive Jane Ngige, quick action by the government and the growers to provide security both on the roads and farms averted a catastrophe — involving a possible relocation of the flower business to neighbouring countries.
Mrs Ngige said that Kenya’s flowers have a bright future because Europe is scaling down production as the continent grapples with increased production costs and the need to reduce global warming. Attention is therefore shifting to countries that grow flowers under natural conditions, instead of using the costly artificial lighting and heating systems prevalent in the developed world.
While the Tea Board of Kenya has reiterated that the shortfall in tea production is a result of the dry weather prevailing in most growing areas, it has not ruled out effects of the violence on Kericho and Nandi, where most of the tea plantations are located. Here, tea has not been plucked for almost a month now as most workers have not returned since fleeing post-election violence.
Moreover, until a fortnight ago, the roads were practically impassable.
A full return to production is entirely dependent on a national political settlement that will help ease the tension in the affected areas.The East African
