Modern-day war of the roses in Africa
Within two days the stems, shipped in perforated cardboard tubes from Dutch-owned AQ Roses’ flower farm, will be on sale at florists across Europe.
Ten years ago, AQ Managing Director Frank Ammerlaan took a gamble by investing in Ethiopia’s brand-new flower industry instead of putting his money into neighboring Kenya, where flower-growing dates back to 1969. The $10 million farm is evidence the wager paid off. Helped by tax breaks, state-bank loans and an intolerance of graft, a $200-million-a year industry has emerged that’s taking market share from Kenya, which sells $500 million worth of flowers a year and supplies more than a third of the flowers sold in Europe annually.
The emergence of Ethiopia to become Africa’s second-biggest flower exporter in just 10 years is the latest evidence that the country is superseding Kenya’s traditional role as a regional economic powerhouse. It supplanted Kenya as the fourth-largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa last year and has expanded five-fold since 2005 to $61.6 billion, according to International Monetary Fund data.
“They are milking us. Most of the flower farms were in the negative in 2015,” said Jeff Kneppers, the Dutch owner of Maridadi Flowers Ltd. He’s been in Kenya for more than 20 years. “Other farmers are talking about relocating to Ethiopia.” He’s staying for now, preferring the country’s more favorable climate, better-skilled workers and private land ownership, which is barred in Ethiopia.
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