Uganda’s Horticulture Earnings Could Drop

Uganda’s horticulture export earnings are likely to drop this year. Sector players are blaming this on the unfavorable weather patterns and changes in product standards and certifications in the key market – Europe.

“From November last year to May this year, we did not receive any rain and this affected our business. There was also increased pest infestation because of the heat,” said James Kanyijje, the chief executive officer of KK Foods

Kanyijje, whose firm exports most of its fruits and vegetables to Europe, said the horticulture production is already below 60% compared with last year as result of prolonged drought that was experienced at the beginning of this year.


This situation has been worsened by farmers harvesting immature crops that fetch lower prices at the international market, according to Mansoor Nadir, the chief executive officer at the Kampala-based Pearl of Africa Natural Spice Exporters.


“We produce a lot but of low quality. Some farmers harvest when the crop is not ready. At the end, they fetch low prices,” he said.

Flower exporters, too, expect a drop in export earnings blaming constant changes in standards and certifications in Europe.

“The standards in the European market keep changing. They change specifications and certifications,” Ravi Kumar, the farm manager at Rosebud Farm Limited said.

“For example, we have been growing sweetheart roses (small flowers) but the European market now says that they want big ones…we are now uprooting and planting small ones and yet they take a year to mature. So, the business is already struggling this year.”

This perhaps expounds on Rosebud’s plan to diversify its market through exporting some of its flowers to the Chinese market.

The seemingly poor performance of the horticulture industry comes as the European market is threatening to ban imports of the country’s agriculture products.

Vincent Ssempijja, the minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, said on Aug. 22, that the EU had sent a warning to the government over severe chemical contamination of horticulture produce being exported by farmers in the country. This was the third warning in four years.

In 2015, hot pepper export to Europe was suspended for more than a month due to poor storage issues, pesticide residues and packaging amongst others.

Ssempijja said several consignments of agriculture produce shipped to Europe have again been rejected and destroyed over poor quality and presence of high contents of poorly mixed agro chemicals used to treat or preserve them.

He said EU has resolved to audit the sector in October for compliance to international and European Union Health standards before slapping a fresh ban in the event of non-compliance.

Latest statistics from the Bank of Uganda shows that though the country’s flower export volumes mainly to the EU have continued to decline, earnings have continued to surge.

For instance, in 2014, the country’s flower volumes stood at 14.6 million tonnes worth $57.5million. However, in 2018, the country exported merely 6.2 million tonnes worth $60.8million.

On the other hand, fruits and vegetable exports have increased from 27.9 million tonnes worth $20.7million to 95.2million tonnes worth $40.6million during the same period under review.

Independent

Kenya horticulture exports rise 18% in 2011

Kenya's earnings from horticulture exports rose 18% in 2011, despite a marginal dip in volumes, buoyed by a favorable exchange rate and strong prices for vegetables and fruits.

Horticulture is the country's leading source of foreign exchange, alongside tourism, remittances from Kenyans living abroad and tea exports.

East Africa's largest economy earned 91.6 billion shillings ($1.10 billion) from the sale of flower, fruit, vegetable and nut exports in 2011, data from the USAID Kenya Horticulture Competitiveness Project (KHCP) showed.

The body, which aims to boost employment in the industry, said there was scope for further growth in 2012, especially in flower production, which makes up the bulk of the sector's earnings.

Kenya exports most its horticultural produce to Europe, whose sovereign debt crisis has driven many countries to the brink of recession at the start of 2012.

The USAID Kenya Horticulture Competitiveness Project said the country exported 382,638 tonnes of horticulture in 2011 compared with 403,026 tonnes in 2010.

BusinessLive

Bad weather reduces Ethiopian Valentine's Day flower exports

Officials at the Ethiopian Flowers and Vegetables Exporters Association say that cold weather saw the late cutting of flowers, affecting exports to European market for Valentine's Day.

The association said that the country failed to reach an expected 30 percent increase in exports as the bad weather delayed flower cutting by up to 15 days.

Horticultural products have, in recent years become one of Ethiopia’s major export products along with traditional coffee. In 2011, the country made US$220 million from the horticulture industry, making it one of Ethiopia's biggest foreign currency earners.

Flower growers are benefiting from financial incentives as they mount a challenge to Kenya – the current African leader in flower exports.

"This year, the flower price was up in Europe and we were expecting to get more income from the sector. But we are unable to achieve the goal," the association said in a statement.

Prices of flowers in Europe have risen significantly, with some flowers fetching 0.60 euro, up from 0.25 euro.

Ethiopia began exporting flowers in 2001-02, earning US$159 000, exports soared to US$2.9 million the following year.

In the past six months, Ethiopia has earned US$156 million and is expecting to get more than US$300 million from annual exports.

Africa Report

Indian floriculture investor answers questions on his African interest

Sixteen years ago, Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi started a floriculture business in Bangalore, and became one of India's biggest floriculturists in quick time. A few years ago, he stepped into Africa; today, he operates 7.5 lakh acres in Ethiopia and 1,500 acres in Kenya. In land that is about 8 times the size of Mumbai, Karuturi grows flowers and a range of other agricultural products. He is probably today the world's biggest supplier of roses. Karuturi talks to STOI about his African safari.

What are the challenges in Indian agriculture?

Land is an emotive and contentious issue. If the interlinking of rivers project is revived, it may connect the flood zone in the East with the drought zone in the South, and unleash some arable land. Otherwise, of the 300 million hectares of land we have, only one-third is arable. It is impossible to have a sizeable 5,000 acres of land in the country. Rain-fed agriculture is suicidal.

Why has Africa become so critical for your business?

Africa is better in terms of productivity, costs, taxes, duty-free access to European markets because of their least developed country status, and lower transportation costs owing to the geographical proximity to our main markets in Europe.

How much lower is the price of a rose grown in Africa compared to that in India?

A rose from India, when it lands in Europe, will cost about 14 euro cents and it will be about 30% less from East Africa.

What about the political risks in Africa?

We invest only in countries that have a bilateral investment treaty with India. Also the country must be a signatory to World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). We buy MIGA insurance which protects us from political risks. We are also working closely with the government to build a healthy relationship with India. I am currently the honorary consul-general for Ethiopia in Bangalore.

We read about civil strife and mafias in some of these African countries. Isn't the environment difficult to operate in?

Riots happen everywhere, including in India. You have to find a way around them. Three months after our biggest acquisition in December 2007, Ethiopia was on fire. But we were working round the clock, harvesting and shipping flowers. Police and guards protected our farms. We stocked up food and water, essentials and blankets. Maybe the Cauvery and Rajkumar riots taught us how to survive such things. I remember then having gone to the Bangalore police commissioner, representing a small flower organization. He told me between 12 midnight and 3am, most people sleep. Since then, I have been shipping flowers in that window, when temperature and traffic are low. As for the mafia, they prefer to hijack trucks carrying copper. Copper is $10,000 a tonne, while food is only $200 a tonne.

Times of India

Zimbabwe: horticultural sector shows signs of recovery

by Tabitha Mutenga

Despite poor funding, Zimbabwe's horticultural sector has marginally improved, with fresh produce production expected to increase to 4 500 tonnes in 2011, from 3 200 tonnes last year.

However, this is still far below production levels before the country embarked on agrarian reforms in 2000, when fresh produce levels hovered around 10 000 tonnes, although it hit 10 240 tonnes at the height of the agrarian reforms.

Fresh produce output amounted to 3 000 tonnes in 2009.

Statistics compiled by the Commercial Farmers Union show that horticultural production has generally improved, registering growth of 43 000 tonnes in 2010 against 35 000 tonnes in 2009.

There is still much more investment to be undertaken before production levels rise to levels above 60 000 tonnes experienced when the sector was still vibrant.

Flower production is expected to remain stagnant at 7 500 tonnes this year after picking up in 2010 to 7 500 tonnes. This was a drop from 8 000 tonnes realised in 2 008. Flower production output reached 5 000 tonnes in 2009.

Production had peaked at 22 800 tonnes in 2003.

Local horticultural production includes products such as cut flowers, fruit and tropical fruit, out of season fruit and vegetables. At its peak during the late 1990s horticulture was the second largest agricultural foreign exchange earner after tobacco, recording export figures in 1999 of US$144 million.

The sector is currently facing a number of challenges which include power outages that grossly affect fresh produce exports which require certain temperatures to be maintained and also affects irrigation of the crops.

Labour shortages are also a huge problem in horticulture and due to poor salaries, farm workers are opting for gold or diamond panning as a source of livelihood.

Horticultural production, which is labour intensive, also requires highly technical and specialised skills.

Very high start up costs especially for new farmers (infrastructure like greenhouses, cold rooms and working capital), has negatively affected production, inc-luding dilapidated irrigation infrastructure, particularly in communal areas.

Stringent phyto-sanitary demands on quality, food safety and hygiene especially from Europe also have a negative im-pact of horticultural output.

Citrus production in 2011 is projected to slightly improve from the 29 750 tonnes in 2010 to 30 000 tonnes although production in 2000 and 2001 was 39 320 tonnes. Over the years, production increased to 47 770 tonnes in 2004, declining to 15 000 tonnes in 2 009.

Horticultural production is a rapidly growing sector and export of flowers had made Zimbabwe the fourth largest supplier to the Dutch flower-auction market. However, horticultural exports are prone to price fluctuations because of global supply and demand factors.

Zimbabwe's horticultural sector is essential to economic recovery and is strategic in respect of the enhancement of the country's export receipts.

In paprika, production has improved from 340 tonnes last year to 1 200 tonnes this year.

In 2008, paprika output was pegged at 740 tonnes, declining to 260 tonnes in 2009. Output reached its peak at 13 870 tonnes in 2000.

Zimbabwe exports flowers to the Netherlands, Germany, UK, USA, France and Italy. Fresh vegetables are exported to South Africa, Zambia, UK and Namibia while fruits are taken to South Africa and UK.

Financial Gazette

Indian company Karuturi’s rosy Ethiopian investment increasingly resembling a colonial-style settler land grab

by Alemayehu G. Mariam

“Karuturi's First Corn Crop in Ethiopia Destroyed,” announced the headline.

Karuturi Global Ltd., is the Indian multinational agro company that has been gobbling up large chunks of Ethiopia over the past few years. This time, Mother Nature gobbled up Karuturi. The company reported last week that its 30,000 acre corn crop in Gambella in western Ethopia was wiped out when the Baro and Alwero rivers overflowed their

banks and overwhelmed Karuturi’s 80km long system of protective dikes.

Head honcho Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi said his company took a $15 million ‘hit’ from the floods. He was manifestly puzzled by the intensity of the calamity: “This kind of flooding we haven?t seen before. This is a crazy amount of water.”

Karuturi is today the proud owner of ?2,500 sq km of virgin, fertile land ? an area the size of Dorset, England-? in Ethiopia. Truth be told, Karuturi did not ask for this bountiful giveaway, nor did it lay eyes on it when it was presented with a 50-year ‘lease’ on a golden platter by the ruling regime in Ethiopia. Karuturi was offered the land together

with generous tax breaks and other perks for £150 a week (US$245).

Karuturi Project Manager in Ethiopia, Karmjeet Sekhon, giggled euphorically as he told Guardian reporter John Vidal the amazing story of how his company became the beneficiary of one of the largest free land giveaways in post-colonial African history:

“We never saw the land. They gave it to us and we took it. Seriously, we did. We did not even see the land. (Triumphantly cackling laughter.) They offered it. That’s all. It’s very good land. It’s quite cheap. In fact it is very cheap. We have no land like this in India. There [India] you are lucky to get 1% of organic matter in the soil. Here it is more

than 5%. We don?t need fertiliser or herbicides. There is absolutely nothing that will not grow on it.

To start with there will be 20,000 hectares of oil palm, 15,000 hectares of sugar cane and 40,000 hectares of rice, edible oils and maize and cotton. We are building reservoirs,

dykes, roads, towns of 15,000 people. This is phase one. In three years time we will have 300,000 hectares cultivated and maybe 60,000 workers. We could feed a nation here.

The ruling regime in Ethiopia claims that it “leased’ uninhabited wilderness to Karuturi. It denies forcing the local people out of their land. But the evidence is incontrovertible. The leased land is not only the ancestral home of the people of Gambella but also the basis of their entire livelihood and survival as a tiny minority in the Ethiopian family. For Gambellans who live as pastoralist and subsistence farmers, massive dispossession and auctioning off their land for pennies will inevitably destroy the very fabric of their society and way of life and threaten them with extinction.

It is said that in Ethiopia ‘land is owned by the government.’ If the government is the largest land owner, Karuturi must be the largest plantation owner and second largest land owner in that impoverished country. Indeed, it would be most appropriate to rename Gambella ‘Karuturistan’ in the interest of full disclosure and accurate description of what is happening on the ground.

Karuturi says it has all kinds of plans for its vast land holdings. It will ‘build taller dikes’

to enclose the plantations ‘with no connection with outside water except through manually operated devices.’ Karuturi is ‘aggressively rolling out an agriculture business venture in Ethiopia’ and plans to ‘outsource 20,000 hectares of farm land in the African nation to Indian farmers on a revenue-sharing basis,’a senior Karuturi official told India’s leading business newspaper, the Business Standard.

“We have got a decent response. We intend to give land and the necessary infrastructure to farmers who have the expertise in specific crop cultivation and get into a revenue share (65%:35%) with them. We hope to have agreements reached for around 20,000 hectares in the near future as part of the first phase.” Karuturi is actively negotiating with farmers from Punjab, India to launch its outsourcing venture.

Karuturi’s business model is simple: “Ask not what Karuturi can do for Ethiopia, but what Ethiopians can do for Karuturi.”

Karuturi is in Ethiopia for only one thing: Profit and more profits. Just as it has built dykes to enclose its plantations from flood water, it also maintains a social, psychological and security enclosure to insulate itself from the local Gambella community. Karuturi maintains a virtual agricultural treasure island in Gambella. While foreign farmers are

brought in as modern sharecroppers and given partnership interest, Gambella’s farmers are offered or given nothing. Why not offer Gambella farmers (the real owners of the land) a 35 percent share just like the Punjabi farmers?

Karuturi says it intends to give part of its vast landholdings to Indian farmers with "expertise." The people of Gambella have their own time-tested agricultural expertise, but Karuturi does not want it and will not even make a symbolic gesture to help them acquire expertise by giving them training and education in new agricultural methods and

techniques.

Karuturi says it will export its corn and other commodities to “South Sudan and other East African markets” using “two tug boats with the capacity to carry 600 tonnes each?”

Yet millions of Ethiopians are starving and dependent on foreign food aid for their daily bread. Some 7.5 million Ethiopians are kept alive daily by international food handouts.

Last week USAID chief Raj Shah announced in Ethiopia that the US will provide $110m for famine relief. Karuturi says its commodities exports will “bring foreign exchange to the National Bank of Ethiopia.”

What will Karuturi bring to the people of Ethiopia? The people of Gambella? More poverty, exploitation, environmental degradation?

Karuturi Ltd., is the world’s largest producer of roses. Its slogan is said to be “Let millions of roses bloom.” Roses are beautiful, but looking through rose-colored lenses one gets a rosy outlook on reality.

Karuturi could easily mistake the vast tract of free land that was dropped on its lap, all of the tax breaks it receives, the duty free imports of machines and equipment it enjoys and all of the other preferential treatment it gets as proof of its arrival in Nirvana, not

Ethiopia.

Take the rosy lenses off and Karuturi shall behold an Ethiopia that ranks at the bottom of every international economic and political index: It is among the countries in the world with the lowest per capita incomes and highest inflation and unemployment rates. The ruling regime has been classified as one of the worst violators of human rights in the

world. Karuturi looking through its rosy lenses may be unable to see the grinding poverty of the people of Gambella and the destruction of their way of life when they were forced to give up so much of their ancestral lands.

The most troubling aspect of Karuturi’s “investment” in Ethiopia is not only that it has created an island of wealth and prosperity in a sea of poverty in Gambella, but that its large-scale commercial farming operations and practices are manifestly unsustainable and likely to have a severely negative impact on the land and the way of life of the people.

Numerous experts continue to warn that large-scale commercial farming operations and practices by land-grabbing multinational companies that use forest burning to clear the land, channel rivers and introduce exotic crop species cause permanent and irreversible

environmental damage and ecological imbalance. The capital-intensive technologies of the multinationals displace local farmers and render them irrelevant necessitating outsourcing and importation of foreign farmers with “expertise.”

In Gambella, the people complain that despite millions of dollars in investments by Karuturi, they have seen few jobs, schools, clinics or clean water facilities for their use. At the end of the day, the people of Gambella will be the ones suffering the long-term effects of deforestation (land clearance by burning), reduction of ecological

diversity, loss of local species, and environmental contamination caused by herbicides and pesticides used in large-scale commercial farming. When fertile Gambella becomes a virtual desert, the multinationals will move to another oasis in Africa.

Karuturi needs to take off its rosy lenses and ask itself a few questions: How could it create jobs and business opportunities for local Ethiopians when it is outsourcing its landholdings to Indian farmers? How could it improve the agricultural expertise of those Ethiopians in the local area when it is bringing in foreign “experts?”

How could Ethiopia ever achieve food security and feed its explosively growing and

food aid-dependent population when it is shipping out agricultural commodities on 600-ton tugboats under cover of darkness to feed the people of other nations? What will Karuturi do in the face of Ethiopia’s spreading hunger, famine and uncontrolled population growth?

Will it build larger dikes, walls, fences and levees to keep the people out of its corn filelds? Will the regime send its soldiers to protect Karuturi from the hungry and starving hordes of Ethiopians begging for a few ears of corn at Karuturi’s gates?

Karuturi has the option of doing the right thing: Dump the current land acquisition and ownership deal and replace it with contract farming and deal directly with the farmers of Gambella, not Punjabi farmers.

Karuturi (and other foreign investors) could provide the technology and capital, and the Ethiopians will be obligated to provide the land and labor. Karuturi could provide training to farmers in Gambella and enhance their “expertise” to make them more productive.

Karuturi could supply grains and other agricultural commodities for the Ethiopian

market profitably and over the long term maintain a sustainable and ecologically balanced agricultural venture. Is this too radical an idea or is it too old fashioned?

It has been argued that regimes that seek out or fall prey to the big multinational land grabbers are dictatorships that exist on international charity and handouts and are thoroughly mired in corruption and debt. There is much talk these days about a ‘second

generation colonialism’ spearheaded by profit-hungry land grabbing multinationals.

Some even talk about a ‘green gold rush’ for fertile African land sold at fire sale prices by African dictators eager to line their pockets. These shameless money grabbing dictators will even agree to a deal that will export grain out of their countries as their

population starves and they are panhandling the world for food handouts.

Truth be told, no one except a few of the top leaders of the ruling regime know the real deal in the land giveaway to Karuturi. Very little useful information is evident in the ”agreement” made public with Karuturi.

That “agreement” offers nothing more than the usual boilerplate full of meaningless legal mumbo jumbo routinely used for such ‘leases’ by multinational land grabbers verywhere. For instance, the agreement alludes to environmental safety but provides no specific

environmental standards to be followed. It talks about jobs, infrastructures and the rest but provides no specifics or details on the timetable for implementation or the scope of Karuturi's obligations.

Over a century and a half ago, far, far away from Karuturistan, a prophesy was told in the lyrics of a song of African slaves toiling on vast cotton and tobacco plantations in America.

"God gave Noah the rainbow sign: No more water. The fire next time!"

God has given the people of Ethiopia the rainbow sign: Unite and come together as one

rainbow nation. For those who divide and misrule and sell and buy pieces of Ethiopia, the sign says: No more water!

Nazret 

Kenya flower farms accused of paying poor wages

by George Murage

The chairman of the parliamentary committee on agriculture, John Mututho, has lashed at flower farmers for paying their workers poorly.

Mututho accused the farmers of being too profit-minded, adding that they were to blame for the high poverty levels in Naivasha. "The farmers are making millions in terms of profit but the flower farm workers are among the most poorly paid in this country."

The MP he was in the process of drafting a bill to which would address the plight of workers in the horticulture sector. "A bouquet of flower goes for over Sh10,000 in Europe but workers in Naivasha are getting less than Sh4,000 per month,"

He supported calls that workers be rewarded appropriately for their work but was quick to dismiss calls for mass protests. Mututho attributed the current status of Lake Naivasha to pollution by some errant farmers who were releasing chemicals from their farms.

allafrica.com

Kenya: Flower farms not at fault for lake pollution, says report

by Noah Cheploen

Flower farms are not entirely to blame for the problems facing Kenya's Lake Naivasha and the environment around it.

Scientists from Britain's University of Leicester said that the country's second largest fresh water lake was receding because of over-exploitation, among other factors.


Dr David Harper and Ed Morrison said that evidence indicates that the fast growing flower industry is very well-controlled, thus not a major risk to survival of the water resource.


“The real cause of the lake’s deterioration,” says Harper, “is the same basic cause as everywhere else in the world – too many people using up too much water and wasting most of it because they think it is free.”

The findings were contained in a report delivered to Prime Minister Raila Odinga by the two scientists.

“It is very easy to come to Lake Naivasha as a visitor or journalist, see all the greenhouses around the lake and immediately just blame flower growing,” said Harper, whohas been researching on Rift Valley lakes for the last 30 years. .

Flower growing is important to the country’s economy because it is the biggest earner of foreign exchange – above tourism, coffee and tea. Over half of all roses sold in UK supermarkets come from Naivasha.

“The flower industry is conscientious about the water taken out most particularly the growers who sell to European supermarkets because they know that consumer groups can keep a check on the water they use as well as the conditions of their workers.

“UK supermarkets should realise though, that they are being left behind by the Europeans. The Swiss and the Germans can see that, to make their supply chain sustainable, they need to put some profits back into ecological restoration. British supermarkets need to do more or they could lose the market in a few years time,” he said.

In2EastAfrica

Zimbabwe's horticulture exports fall sharply

by Obert Chifamba

The Zimbabwe Horticulture Promotion Council says deterrent freight charges, high production and export-related costs had caused a steep decline in horticultural exports over the last seven years.

HPC chief executive Mr Basilio Sandamu said the planes they contracted to ferry produce were failing to get southwards bound cargo and were only getting northwards bound cargo. This, he said, had made it very expensive to contract them as their charges were designed to make up for all the losses incurred.

Freight charges constitute 55 percent of all the costs of production.

"In the past there were between four and five flights to European markets every week but now there are only three, which reflects that export volumes have fallen sharply. "Last year we exported seven million kilogrammes of flowers, down from the traditional 24 million kilogrammes per year in good years," explained Mr Sandamu.

He said it was now critical for the industry to maintain the current mark and start building from there as any further descent would be disastrous and would also give regional competitors like Kenya and Uganda more edge over Zimbabwe.

"Critical mass is key in making a footprint on the markets. It is a game of volumes so we must maintain our grip on the market to be taken seriously," he added.

He said Zimbabwe enjoyed preferences in EU markets under the EU/ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) agreement that enabled it to export flowers duty free.

At the moment the country sends 85 percent of its flowers to EU destinations through the Dutch auction floors, which makes it vital to access cheap funds to refurbish infrastructure and re-plant new varieties while expanding the area under production.

"In the past we used to have 400ha under horticulture, now it is less than 150ha. We are currently operating at 30 percent of our full potential. The most painful fact is that we have very good growing conditions and highly skilled personnel," lamented Mr Sandamu.

Furthermore, he said funding constraints had seen farmers failing to refurbish greenhouses or replace old varieties with new ones to keep pace with developments on the markets.

"Farmers have no access to credits. "This comes against a background that has seen prices for basic export requirements like the CD 1 export form rising from US$50 in the recent past to the current US$250 for a single sheet. Indirectly, this is taxing farmers and compromising viability," he said.

Mr Sandamu said phytosanitary, tax and nursery charges accompanied by the SADC and EUR 1-certificate costs made it very difficult for farmers to operate viably. In the end the costs of exporting end up higher than the returns, which discourages farmers from producing for the export markets.

Additionally, very high production costs are making life difficult for farmers, as they need 16 Euro to establish a square metre of a green field while a hectare needs 160 000 Euro.

To break even the farmer needs to have planted nothing less than 5ha in which the first 18 months will be without an income.

"Working capital of 40 000 Euro per hectare per year is also needed, which is difficult for the current crop of farmers. In the past those who excelled used proceeds from tobacco and other crops to fund horticulture. There was a lot of cross subsidisation and this made it possible for the farmers to survive before they even started reaping anything from their horticultural projects," further explained Mr Sandamu.

Horticultural earnings now contribute between 1,5 and 2 percent to the country's GDP, down from a high of 5 percent in the recent past.

"Farmers are no longer re-capitalising but only maintaining what is there, leaving us operating at a fifth of what we used to do in 2001. There are economic fundamentals to be addressed first, failure of which the industry is doomed to continue singing the blues," he said.

The Herald

Low wages, pesticide-exposure concerns in Uganda flower industry

by Tom Levitt

With its tropical climate and warm nights, Uganda, like neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania, has the perfect conditions for growing flowers. But, mired in allegations of worker exploitation and government corruption, can the flower industry in Uganda compete with its neighbours and offer the long-term hope of jobs and sustainable development?

Following in the footsteps of Kenya and Tanzania, Uganda steadily built up a flower industry during the 1990s. Despite early setbacks, including growing flowers that weren't ideally suited for the climate, the flower industry has now become a significant contributor to the national economy. The ten major flower farms produce exports, mainly of roses, worth US$35 million a year as well as employing an estimated 6,000 workers with a further 30,000 indirectly dependent through industries like transport and storage.

However, flower growing is still small by comparison with neighbouring competitors, with a total flower-growing area of only 200 hectares, far smaller than Tanzania and South Africa, and only a tenth of the 2,000 hectares in Kenya. After further setbacks, following European cut-backs on orders due to the global economic downturn, the industry may now be at a crossroads.

Accusations from local trade unions are that workers are poorly treated by flower companies and not adequately protected from exposure to pesticides used in flower growing. In a study by the Uganda Workers' Educational Association (UWEA) in 2010, 40 per cent of workers interviewed never used protective equipment and many suffered health problems.

A few major companies admit that there have been problems with the workforce but deny concerns over pesticides. Jacques Schrier, managing director of Fiduga Ltd, a major flower producer near the capital Kampala, says he was forced to sack two managers on his farm after he found out they were extorting salaries from other staff and having sex with female co-workers. But, he says, workers have twice-monthly blood tests to monitor any potential problems from pesticide exposure.

Helga Franklyn, a junior manager at another flower company, Jambo Roses, backs this up saying workers on their pesticide spraying team wear full protective clothing and are given pre-employment health checks to diagnose health problems, like asthma, before they start.

Both managers admit salaries are low at around 65,000 Ugandan Shillings (UGX) or US$25 a month. Workers on the spraying team get more - 250,000 UGX a month. Staff turnover is also high at more than ten per cent.
"Many just come for a month to get some money and then go," says Helga, who adds that women, who make up almost 60 per cent of her workforce, are more reliable. "Most of them have children and many have been abandoned by their husbands. Whereas the men can come in one day and then the next day be off selling doughnuts or riding bicycle taxis."
Costs and corruption

Despite concerns over the workforce, Schrier, who is also chairman of the Uganda Flower Exporters Association (UFEA), says the main problems facing the industry are high air freight costs and corruption, which he fears is now making potential investors look to Asia and other alternative locations to grow flowers.

Most flower farms are located near Entebbe international airport, where landing taxes and the lack of dedicated air freight for flowers mean that flying costs are around US$1 per kilo of flowers higher than in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania; they use dedicated cargo aircraft, as well as purchasing space on passenger airlines.

"The climate is so special in Uganda; with a low differential between day and night temperatures, it is even better than Costa Rica," says Schrier. "It's a unique selling point for the country. More investors should be coming here." He argues that the Government does little to help the flower industry with, for example, long delays in obtaining approval for importing pesticides. But tax breaks are given to companies that pay bribes and to a farm that is part-owned by the president's wife.

"I don't mind about the bribes and tax breaks but I just wish they would help us compete on a level-playing field with neighbouring countries like Kenya and Tanzania," says Schrier.
Play to your strengths

In the long-run Schrier believes Uganda needs to move away from predominantly growing flowers and cuttings towards the pot plants sector, where it can better compete with competitors in Africa and Asia. His own company will begin its first shipments of pot plants, such as otsteos, dahlias, impatients and geraniums, to Europe this month, and he hopes they will make up 50 per cent of his sales within five years.

"Pot plants are a huge market that has not yet developed in Africa. There's huge potential for this sector to encourage more investors to come here and get the industry growing. Because of the climate, any crop can be grown here quicker, cheaper and with less chemicals than in Europe," he says.

New Agriculturalist

Kenyan flower industry yet to fully recover from 2010 disruptions

by Suleiman Mabatiah

Kenya’s flower exporters are cautiously optimistic that the prospects for their industry will improve during 2011 after disaster struck in the form of volcanic ash and adverse winter weather conditions in 2010. But prices will be lower as the global economic recession still weighs heavily on their primary market, the European Union.

In 2010, the industry faced enormous challenges. Volcanic ash in April and bad winter weather in December depressed cut flower sales by 15 percent, compared to 2009.

Kenya is globally the main exporter of cut flowers to the European market and the third largest exporter worldwide after the Netherlands and Columbia. The East African country is also the leading cut flower exporter among African developing countries. According to the Kenya Flower Council, 65 percent of exported flowers are sold through Dutch auctions, although direct sales are growing.

The council highlights that the industry has recorded strong growth in volume and value of cut flowers exported every year; 10,946 tons in 1988 compared to 86,480 tons in 2006 and 117,713 tons in 2009. The industry provides between 50,000 to 60,000 livelihoods directly and over 500,000 indirectly.

Statistics from the council show that the Kenyan flower industry suffered losses of 1.5 to two million dollars a day when 400-500 tons of cut flowers could not reach the market in 2010. Some 500 workers were laid off.

The industry has reportedly been optimistic that 2011 holds the potential for recovery. But Kenya Flower Council chief executive Jane Ngige is aware that the continuing economic woes in its key market could, just like the weather, affect the industry’s performance in 2011.

"When the ability of consumers to buy is curtailed, it certainly bruises the industry," Ngige acknowledged. "Reduced returns will translate into loss of revenue and, of course, jobs. Hopefully this will not be the case."

Demand for luxury goods such as flowers declined in Europe when the global economic and financial crisis first bit at the beginning of 2008, causing flower prices to immediately drop by between 15-30 percent.

Julius Riungu, farm manager at Timaflor, said that the industry expects prices to drop further this year. The company has increased the acreage planted with flowers to counter the possible fall in prices.

The farm has a total workforce of 1,060 people, of whom 60 percent are men and 40 percent women. "If workers have to be sent home due to the recession, flowers could become bushes, worsening the situation," he said at the farm.

Timaflor trains its workers to form savings and credit cooperatives to save money.

Susan Makena joined the farm in Oct 2010 and is assigned to flower pruning. "I left the hotel industry for the flowers. The money earned has enabled me to help my extended family that is poor. I also use the cash to pay school fees for my children," she said, adding that dismissal would mean "death" to her.

For Martin Dyer, general manager at Kisima Farm, the previous year’s calamities in the euro zone were a blessing, competitively. "We were lucky that we were able to take our flowers to Europe in time as we used other routes to get there. The prices had increased by then, due to the supply problems," Dyer explained.

With his farm’s high quality, "big head" roses, he hopes to weather the continuing effects of the recession: "The small heads flood the market. Price- conscious customers should go for the best: the big heads."

Not all workers are equally happy. Cecilia Wanjiku, who has four children, complained that the earnings at Kisima Farm are not enough to meet all her needs but she has no other option as work is scarce.

"Instead of being idle, I opted for casual work at the flower farms. Idleness leads to vices such as stealing to earn a living," she said during a lunch break at the farm. She and the other workers clock five to eight hours a day. Most women interviewed said they use their earnings to pay school fees and buy food.

Dyer is optimistic that no job cuts will be required at Kisima Farm. 

IPS

Scientists create world's first all-black petunia

Gardens are set to turn a shade of black next summer after horticulturists developed the world's first black petunia plant.

The dramatic new flowers, named Black Velvet, were developed using natural breeding techniques to turn them a dark black colour and will be on sale at a premium price of £2-£3 per plant.

The rare plants, which have taken four years to perfect, are due to blossom in British gardens for the first time next spring.

Petunias are extremely common and popular bedding plants and grow in borders, containers and hanging baskets during the spring and summer months.

Experts believe the new variety will be highly sought-after among gardeners as they will provide a 'wonderful contrast' to colourful flowers.

They were developed by flower breeding company Ball Colegrave and will be going on sale for the first time in British garden centres.

The plants will be advertised under the catchline 'black goes with everything.' They were created by mixing existing colours already on the market and breeding them by pollen, until they finally got the right shade.

Stuart Lowen, from Ball Colegrave in Banbury said: 'It's completely unique. It's the first black petunia anywhere in the world. It was created by experimenting with existing colours already on the market and breeding them using traditional methods. We don't use any genetic modification at all, just pollination.

'They say black goes with anything, and it really looks exceptionally striking in the garden - it goes very well with whites, yellows and pinks. It's rare to get a flower as black as this - very seldom do you get anything this dark.'

Flower breeder Jianping Ren developed the new plants at Ball Colegrave.

She said: 'The black colour did not exist in petunias before, so it has to come from the right recombination of a novel colour mutant and multiple regular colour genetic backgrounds. It's unique and unusual, and opens the door for more new colours.'

Andrew McIndoe, managing director of Hilliers Nurseries, said the flower should be popular with gardeners seeking something unusual. He said: 'People like the idea of a black flower because they are interesting - they are unusual and it's something different.

'Gardeners have always sought the unattainable. The closer to black a flower is, the more sought after it seems to be. Like all flowers known as 'black,' they will probably be a very, very deep purple which looks black - although this doesn't make it any less interesting.

'I'm not sure how a garden would look with all black flowers, but it's a wonderful contrast colour. A combination of black and white often works very well.'

Daily Mail

Rise in fuel prices adds to the woes of the East African flower industry

by McAdams Michael

The multi-million dollar horticultural industry is under threat in Tanzania and Kenya following rising jet fuel price and subsequent increase of freight charges with growers facing sanctions against using Lake Naivasha water.

According to Tanzania Horticulture Association (Taha) Fresh Handling Ltd general manager Paresh Maru, the rise in jet fuel prices that takes effect in May, will see farmers pay $0.24 extra on every kilogramme shipped from Kilimanjaro International Airport or Julius Nyerere International Airports to European markets.

Mr Maru explained that previously both Air France Cargo and Royal Dutch airlines cargo charges were $0.56 per kilogramme but now the charges have increased to $0.80 per kilogramme.

According to Maru, British Airways World Cargo has from April increased its charges to $0.75 p/kg from $0.56. Indeed, an April 22 British Airways note to customers indicated the carrier’s plans to increase its fuel surcharge to $0.75 per kilogramme in response to the recent rise in jet fuel prices fromApril 29.

Analysts say jet fuel constitutes 40 per cent of the operating cost of an airline and a rise in fuel rates would put an extra burden on carriers.

Prospects were high that horticultural growers would toast for remarkable earnings this year, but not any more, especially after the recent volcano eruption in Iceland and the price hike.

“This is yet another blow to the industry that is still nursing the wound of freight disruption in the recent volcanic eruptions in southern parts of Europe,” Taha executive director Jacqueline Mkindi said.

The industry suffered irreparable loss in turnover of more than $400,000 daily as a result of not shipping locally grown flowers, vegetables and fruits to the European markets.

An average of 50 tonnes remained unshipped every day creating produce wedge in the cold stores in the airports and in the farms, attracting other negative forces.

Cold storage facilities at Jomo Kenyatta, Kilimanjaro and Julius Nyerere airports were reported to be full and, according to Taha, officials managing the airport stores told growers to clear rotting products from their facilities and dump them back at their farms.

Nearly 70 per cent of the horticultural exports from Tanzania are air freighted to European markets via Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and the rest through Kilimanjaro International Airport and Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam.

Available data show that flowers account for at least 80 per cent of horticultural exports from Tanzania.

Tanzania’s horticultural products have a niche market in Western Europe, though few firms have managed to secure markets in the Mediterranean region, the Middle East and the US.

Revenues from the industry reached $140 million in 2008 from $1.4 million in 2002.

Large scale horticultural investment values reached $197.5 million last year, slightly above $195.4 million and $148.5 million in 2008 and 2007 respectively.

In Kenya, flower farms around Lake Naivasha could stop using the water mass for irrigation if plans to protect it are implemented.

Under the revised Lake Naivasha Management Plan, drawn by the Lake Naivasha Growers Group and submitted to the Water Resource Management Authority, extraction of water is to be divided into three categories depending on the water levels.

Traffic lights-like signals will be used to warn against use of the water when levels can’t allow. When the level is at 100 per cent, the light shows green, indicating there is plenty.

When it turns yellow at 50 per cent, take caution, the lake is at half capacity. At red — 25 per cent — you stop all forms of abstraction until the levels go back to green.

The East African

Zambia flower and food exports hit by ash flight ban

Zambia's flower and vegetable industry is losing about $150,000 (£98,000) a day because of the volcanic ash over Europe that has grounded flights.

Flowers and vegetables destined for Europe have been discarded.

Matuna Chanda in Lusaka says if the flight ban continues, it could have disastrous consequences for farm workers in Zambia.

Farm workers in Kenya have already been sent home as harvesting has stopped because of the flight ban.

Colin Rhoda, head of the Zambia Export Growers Association (Zega), said that the flight cancellations have had a "major impact" on the industry.

Zambia exports 120 to 150 tonnes of flowers and vegetables to Europe a week.

"All of that at the moment, we are having to throw away because we rely totally on air freight services out of Zambia," said Mr Rhoda.

Our correspondent says there is no indication yet how farmers in Zambia will deal with their loss of earnings. He explains that if the flight ban continues, their jobs might be under threat.

Other African industries, such as Uganda's fish and flower export businesses, have also been affected by the grounding of planes for a sixth day.

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano system began erupting last Wednesday for the second time in a month, hurling a plume of ash 11km (seven miles) into the atmosphere.

Airspace currently remains closed, or partially closed, in several European countries, although some countries are gradually resuming flights.

BBC

Volcanic flight ban hits Kenya farm workers

Thousands of farm workers in Kenya have been temporarily laid off because of the volcanic ash over Europe that has grounded flights. They have been sent home as harvesting of flowers and vegetables has had to stop.

Agriculture is the East Africa nation's largest export sector, employing hundreds of thousands of people.

The head of Kenya Flower Council has told the BBC 3,000 tonnes of flowers have been already been discarded.

Our reporter in the capital, Nairobi, says refrigerated stores at the city's airport and on farms are now completely full. Unless flights quickly resume, much more produce will have to be thrown away, he says.

Stephen Mbithi, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya, has described the situation as "disastrous."

"On average, we ship some 1,000 tonnes worth $3m (£1.9m) per day," he told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper.  "We have handled drought, El Nino and the post-election violence, but we have not seen anything like this," Mr Mbithi said.

Horticulture recently became Kenya's greatest export earner and accounts for roughly 20% of the economy.

Exporting roses and getting beans, sugar snap peas and other vegetables onto the shelves of European supermarkets is an impressive operation, our correspondent says.

Jane Ngige, head of the Kenya Flower Council, said that growers were trying to find local markets. "But 3,000 tonnes of flowers is a lot of flowers," she said. "The only flowers that are able to leave the country now are flowers going, say, to the Far East, as in Japan. And we are now exploring ways of getting directly to the American market via South Africa," Ms Ngige explained.

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano system began erupting last Wednesday for the second time in a month, hurling a plume of ash 11km (seven miles) into the atmosphere.

Airspace currently remains closed, or partially closed, in more than 20 European countries and weather experts say wind patterns mean the cloud is not likely to move far until later in the week.

BBC

Kenyan flower farms around lake face closure over pollution fears

by Cosmas Butunyi

Another shocker awaits Kenya’s flower industry, which is still recovering from the slump sparked by the global economic meltdown.

Many flower farms in Naivasha — the country’s main horticultural base — could have their licences withdrawn if it is proved that the effluent polluting the lake is discharged from them. Lately, there has been massive deaths of fish and other living organisms in Lake Naivasha.

Environmentalists are eagerly awaiting the results of samples recently collected from the area. Preliminary findings of an inquiry by a team of experts blame flower farms for the dire state of the lake. A fishing ban is currently in effect following the mysterious death of over 1,000 fish this month.

Investigators from the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) and the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute are analysing samples of dead fish, lake water and sediment.

The samples were sent to the Government Chemist and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (Kephis) for further tests. Samples of the effluent discharged by flower farms will also be analysed.

Lately, the level of water in the lake has also fallen, owing to various factors — over extraction by the farms and Naivasha town, effects of climate change and lower volumes supplied to it by its main tributaries.

If the results corroborate the preliminary findings, the government could withdraw environmental impact assessment and audit licences issued to the farms, without which they cannot operate.

The Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act gives the Nema director general the power to revoke licences of establishments that pollute the environment. That would deal a blow to horticulture, the country’s main export industry.

Last year, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics says the country earned $405.5 million from export of 87,042 metric tonnes of cut flowers. Though a 33 per cent drop from the previous year, due to effects of the global cash crunch, this was the highest revenue among the horticultural crops.

 East African

Agony as Uganda flower export orders continue to decline

by Dorothy Nakaweesi

The future looks bleak for Uganda’s flower industry as export business continues to decline.

In a recent interview, the Executive Director of Uganda Flower Exporters Association (UFEA), an umbrella organisation of close to 20 players, Ms Juliet Musoke, said: “This is the Valentines’ season, which is supposed to be a peak period for the companies to export. But orders are not coming in and its worrying everybody.”

Ms Musoke said the prices are not good with the few flowers that are being exported and the players are not earning as much as they used to.

The industry’s export revenue predictions for 2009 were $35 million (Shs68.2 billion) out of the 7,000 tonnes shipped, which according to Ms Musoke are indications that the earnings will be less than the projections.

In 2008, the country exported close to 6,556 tonnes valued at $34 million (Shs66.3 billion). This is happening at the time when all the firms were expected to have complied with the expansion five-programme to boost production and increase new investments. In its plan, dubbed the Uganda National Floriculture Industry Strategy, UFEA embarked on a campaign to double production from present 200-hectare to at least 400 by 2010.

This was to translate into an annual export earnings in excess of $50 million (Shs97.5 billion) up from about $30 million (Shs58.2 billion) recorded at the close of 2006. Fiduga Uganda Ltd is one of the companies that responded to the expansion programme. The firm, which initially had about 12 hectares, has expanded to 17 hectares.

However, Mr Jacques Schrier, the managing director of Fiduga Uganda Ltd, said that they have 17 hectares, but five hectares are empty, because there are no sales.

Mr Schrier says as all this is happening at a time when they are struggling with the workers union, who want the workers’ wages revised upwards. “They are very aggressive and militant. It’s very difficult to find a common goal with them, which affects the industry, in total.”

Ms Musoke said the workers have been getting about Shs2,500 per day and they want an increment. “It is going to be a difficult year for the firms especially when they also have to pay loyalities to the breeders even when they are not making money,” she said.

The only source of hope for the industrial players is the 10-year tax holiday, which is becoming effective this year. In the 2007/8 budget speech, the government announced new investment incentives among which was a 10-year tax holiday to companies engaged in value added exports, withholding tax exemptions, stamp duty exemption in share capital and mortgages. The other tax is duty and tax exemption in raw materials, plant and machinery. According to Musoke, the holiday will help the exporters with something to plough back in their businesses as things normalise.

Daily Monitor

Uganda flower farms withering as costs rise

by Elias Biryabarema

Once-blooming Ugandan fresh flower exports are withering due to crippling transport costs, a lack of new investors and the global economic downturn.

Hard currency inflows from agricultural exports including coffee, cotton and flowers are an important source of foreign exchange for the landlocked east African nation’s economy and of support for the Ugandan shilling. The country produced 6,700 tonnes of flowers worth $34 million last year, and the Uganda Flower Exporters Association (UFEA) expects output in 2009 to be flat or to decline slightly.

"The flower business in Uganda has become disappointing," said UFEA Executive Director Juliet Musoke. "Demand has remained terribly down since the credit crisis began at the end of last year, and when you add the high cost of fuel and airfreight, the margins drop to a very low level."

Uganda basks in a year-round tropical climate that makes production cheaper than growing in heated European greenhouses, meaning it should be well placed to serve markets in the West, as well as growing markets in the Middle East, Russia and China. Five years ago, industry players forecast that sales could double in three years with the right government support. They have long complained that they are being hindered by high transport costs and interest rates on loans -- which is vital because setting up a modern flower farm costs at least $1 million.

Given the tough environment, Musoke said, the sector had seen no new investors in the last six years. Instead, some growers were scaling back their operations and one major player, Victoria Flowers, had closed completely.

"I decided to close the farm because I wasn’t earning any money," said Gordon Wavamunno, a prominent Ugandan businessman and the owner of the now defunct Victoria Flowers. "The government has not given us adequate support and I decided to cut my losses," Wavamunno said.

Uganda boasts 19 flower farms covering 200 acres, mainly in the central region, and the sector employs about 6,500 people. Most of its exports are bought by European Union member states.

Apart from transport costs and lack of access to affordable loans, the big problem for growers is unreliable power. The country suffers from chronically insufficient electricity supply, much of which is generated by expensive diesel-fuelled plants.

Reuters

Kenyan exporters look for new flower markets

by John Oyuke

Kenyan horticultural exporters are eyeing the Middle East in a bid to diversify from the traditional European market hit hard by global financial crisis. The traders have already sought help in finding new markets in places like the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

"Some of our own customers are already in talks with outlets like Spinneys among others," an official of SkyCargo, the Emirates Airlines airfreight disclosed. The supermarket retailer in the Middle East is involved in retail and marketing of consumer goods, most notably in the food sector, and its activities are spread throughout the seven emirates. This is why it has not been affected by the harsh global economic conditions.

The Gulf Council comprises the Persian Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which signed a unified economic agreement in 1981.

The foray by exporters into new waters comes at a time when Emirates Group, the aviation and travel services provider in the Middle East is seeking to increase presence in the local horticulture export to fast track recovery in its cargo business. A team from the Dubai-based group was recently in Nairobi. It held meetings with growers, fresh produce exporters and freight operators to emphasise the group’s ability to provide them efficient and cost-effective global connections.

Ram Menen, the Emirates’ divisional senior Vice President Cargo said Emirates SkyCargo is looking at ways it can work with the industry to access new markets. He said the airline wants to fit in the supply chain of the fastest growing industry within the agricultural sector by helping exporters find new market opportunities.

"Emirates is committed to Kenya, we are serious about the market. We have excellent links in Dubai to a network of 100 cities around the globe," Menen observed. He said several horticulture producers and exporters are ready to work with the airline.

Flower volumes this season have been adversely affected by lack of rain and declining margins from Kenya’s EU market. Last year, Emirates carried about 25,000 tonnes of exports and brought about 7,000 tonnes of imports including telecom equipments and automotive spare parts into the country. About 18,664 tonnes of exports were transported between October, last year and September this year, which represented a 25 per cent drop.

The Standard

Genetically modified blue rose to go on the market

by Kathryn Westcott

The blue rose has long been referred to by horticulturalists as the "Holy Grail" of the plant breeding world. Now what is being described as the world's first genetically-modified blue rose will soon hit flower shops in Japan.

A Japanese firm has announced that it will be the first to put the unique flower on sale to the public - at a not-to-be-sniffed-at 2,000 and 3,000 yen (US$22 and US$33) per stem, about 10 times more expensive than normal.

Genetically, there is no natural blue pigmentation in the rose to allow a true blue rose to be bred by conventional methods. But in 2004 whisky distiller, Suntory, said it had succeeded in developing natural blue roses. With Australian biotech company Florigene, it said it spliced into roses the gene that leads to the synthesis of the blue pigment Delphinidin in petunias. The fruits of that 20-year research project will be delivered to the public next month.

Talk of blue roses is not new. Faux blue roses were traditionally created by dyeing white roses. And nominal "blue roses" have been bred by conventional hybridisation methods. But, according to experts, these are more accurately described as light purple in colour.

In 1847 American nurseryman Samuel Parsons wrote in his book The Rose that progress in science and technology might, indeed, enable gardeners to cultivate blue roses. If so, he said, they would be worth the effort.

Rosebreeder Bernard Mehring says that as far back as the 1900s there was a German variety of "blue" rose known as the Veilchenblau. But the petals are, again, more a "mauvey-grey", he says, and it only flowers once.

According to the Victorians, who promoted floriography - the language of flowers - blue roses were believed to signify mystery or the attempt to attain the impossible. Since those times the colour of a rose has represented a different sentiment or feeling. Red roses still imply passionate, romantic love and pink roses a lesser affection. White roses suggest virtue and chastity and yellow roses still stand for friendship or devotion.

Sarah Holland from the Flowers and Plants Association in the UK says she believes natural blue roses "would be hugely in demand". Dyed-blue roses, which are also a soft purple colour, sell well in the UK, she says. "They don't appeal to everyone because they are unnatural, but there is definitely a place for them. They are, for example, popular for weddings."

Her association receives lots of inquiries about black or blue roses every year ahead of Valentines Day, she adds. "Roses may be ubiquitous nowadays. But they haven't lost their meaning, and people are always looking for something that is unique."

Helen Bostock, a horticulture advisor at the UK's Royal Horticultural Society, says that while a true-blue rose sounds fabulous, it could stand out like a "sore thumb". "A natural blue rose would signify something that is expensive and rare. It would signify exclusivity. "It has been the Holy Grail to rose breeders, but, personally, I think it would look odd - a bit like a plate of blue chips." She is doubtful that any blue rose would be anything other than a novelty. "A red rose signifies passion, but blue is a bit cold, in my book."

Breeder Bernard Mehring is also unimpressed by the news of the blue rose. He has managed to breed a black rose, but says that if you tried to grow it in the garden the sunlight would cause the petals to shrivel up. He thinks the blue rose, for different reasons, would be no good in the garden. "I can't see that a natural blue rose would be easy to grow." It would also not be allowed to be cultivated in some countries, such as the UK, because of the controls imposed on genetically-modified plants.

Roses have been the subject of many myths, legends, poems and paintings. Our fascination with them stretches back centuries. The Romans loved roses. The Emperor Nero was believed to have had an extravagant rotating banquet hall in which rose petals were said to have cascaded from the ceiling. And Napoleon Bonaparte's Empress Josephine instructed collectors to send her roses from around the known world, even during the Napoleonic Wars. In Japan, where the act of present-giving is highly ritualistic, the new blue variety, Applause, will be marketed as a "luxurious gift for special occasions such as wedding anniversaries."

There are no current plans to sell the new variety overseas, which might not be a bad thing, according to Mr Mehring. He warns that in some countries blue is not a popular colour for flowers. "In Italy, the blue is associated with mistrust or bereavement," he says. In China, however, according to one Chinese folk tale, the blue rose signifies hope against unattainable love.

BBC