Happy Mother’s Day but, no flowers to colour event

It’s a gloomy day for the female folk across the world more especially, Europe today during the International Mothers’ Day with minimised flower exports from Kenya.

Challenges facing the floriculture industry in the country, and more pronounced, the current flooding situation is likely to deny the mothers the precious roses.

Experts in the industry have raised concerns over the floods that have hit the country recently, as an emerging challenge that has affected production, transportation from farms and packaging.

Kenya Flower Council (KFC) Chief Executive Officer, Clement Tulezi said the unprecedented floods, first, exposed the country’s preparedness to deal with disasters, and secondly has subjected exporters to losses valued in millions of shillings. And by extension, he noted, this situation has affected export volumes.

“This is going to have a huge impact in the sector, and already resulted in a shortage of flowers at the global stage, where the International Mothers’ Day is eagerly awaited for,” he said in the latest update ahead of the International Floriculture Trade Expo (IFTEX) scheduled for June 4-6 at the Oshwal Centre in Nairobi.

But, the flooding menace, which is part of Climate Change phenomena, is only on top of an array of common challenges that face the sector.

Regulatory issues

The flower industry faces major hurdles across a trading year, which experts says; include legislation such as tariffs and trade barriers; compliance and regulation issues around Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS), EU standards, EU plant health regulations; and sustainability challenges like the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).

In the farms, the flooding affected crop management, and in other areas, the raging water swept off the flowers.

“We are also calling on the government to quickly fix the facilities at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, where the other day we saw flooding water gain access to the cargo storage section and destroy volumes of flowers,” said Tulezi.

Exporters, according to Tulezi, lost up to Sh15 million worth of flowers that were destroyed by the water.

Other challenges are around the social element including governance; Climate Change involving the Greenhouse Gases (GHG), and carbon footprint.

Logistical difficulties

“We have a number of other challenges facing the industry, such as logistical difficulties like high freight costs and attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea area; and cold chain management challenges like packaging, post-harvest losses,” Tulezi told journalists during a press conference in Nairobi.

Located on the equator, Kenya’s weather offers an optimal opportunity for the floriculture industry.

“The industry is vital to the country’s economy, contributing significantly to its GDP. In fact, 40 percent of all roses sold in the European Union are sourced from Kenya,” said Christine Chesaro, Director, Horticultural Crops Directorate (HCD).

The floriculture sector is also the country’s top foreign exchange earner, making it a cornerstone of international trade. In 2023, Chesaro noted Kenya saw the value of her flowers jump to Sh157 billion from Sh147 billion in 2022.

“Despite its robust performance, the industry faces multifaceted challenges, ranging from legislative hurdles to logistical complexities,” she said, noting that this makes the flower sector the most valuable in the country’s horticulture exports at 47 percent, followed by vegetables and fruits at 32 and 27 percent respectively.

However, she said that whereas the industry is faced with all these challenges, one of the transformative initiatives to address them is through increasing exports, especially targeting untraditional destinations. “The IFTEX is therefore an opportunity for the government to showcase the country’s potential, and also use trade diplomacy, which Kenya is good in,” she noted.