Not so rosy Valentine due to low production and deceptive weather patterns

In 2010, in the vibrant Njoro town one of the epicenters of the expansive Great Rift Valley Nakuru County, a farming idea named Bliss Flora Ltd was hatched to grow and export single head premium roses. Bliss Flora Ltd has now metamorphosized into a flower production powerhouse that includes 36 hectares of high quality T-Hybrid roses and 19 commercial varieties being taken care of by an energetic and hardworking team of almost 500 employees being chaperoned by Sachin Appachu who is the General Manager. The company is recognized as a brand of choice in global markets and its MPS certified. To date, the farm operations remain inspired by passion for quality, continued innovation and a drive to be the best in flower production.
On this cupid month of love ‘Valentine Day’, Hortfresh Journal had an exclusive chat with the General Manager.

How can you describe this year’s valentine occasion as compared to the previous ones?
There is a good demand of roses in the auction market in Netherlands but production has been low due to the weather patterns. The weather is not as it used to be during this time of the year. This year’s weather is deceptive, nights are very cold and very dry days, and this is delaying production. Relatively warm night usually facilitates optimum flower growth.
The cancellation of few flights is an indicator that production wasn’t at its best. Interestingly, this year compared to last year we have had plenty of space in the airlines but the production has been low .Red variety prices from early January have been very good this year. Hope it holds on and gets better during the peak time.
Also, at our farm, we have seen a decrease in production, and I think it is down by approximately 20 percent compared to the same time during this period of the year. Unfortunately, not much can be done with nature. If the change is small, as in a few days, a few things can work, but if the delay is more, we just can’t change it. It is difficult to predict, how the coming days and week will develop, but in general, we see that most farms are late, and at some farms, production may even be too late.
This year’s Valentine is falling on a Tuesday which means best selling period would be week number 6 that is from 6th February to 10th February. The last shipment days is from 6th and 7th of February .This would be the last dispatch day from the farm.
After t hat we need to concentrate on direct markets. Luckily for us, we got some direct sales from Middle East so we have been able to gain. Middle East is a market to watch, it has picked up well, and they are affluent people with a taste and preference of flowers. Rwanda in Africa is also a good market to watch.
What has happened to this year’s compared to last year, is that most growers didn’t prune or cut back all the varieties because they feared lack of space and the exorbitant freight charges.
As a grower point to us how the flower industry is grappling with freight charges and spaces in the airlines?
In the last couple of years the Freight cost has gone substantially high after Covid and Ukraine –Russia war. We only hope this can be corrected and growers could benefit from it.
We are seeing indications freight rates are coming down.
Sea freight is one that we won’t be able to ignore because it’s the way forward. Unfortunately there is a lot of gaps because the ship docks in
Rotterdam in 24 days and because of the long queues it takes 6 days to offload. We have done several sea freights, the last one we did on 31st of December and we sold it few days ago and surprisingly it fetched a higher price.

Which varieties of flowers do well during valentine?
Single head premium roses are the best selling and that is what is produced in Kenya up to 80 percent. Fillers and spray roses take up to 20percent.

Generally how is the flower industry in Kenya?
It is definitely not on the rise after 2020 and Ukraine – Russia war, the industry has taken cautious step. There are not much expansions of farms in roses. Many people anticipated many flower farms to close down during Covid but that didn’t happen because we remained resilient, but some closed attributing to other factors.
Geo-political situations are the ones contributing to the stagnation of the industry. Forex is up and down and we as the managers can’t do anything about it. But we remain hopeful .We do most of our sales in Euro’s but our expenditures are in dollars meaning we are also spending more. We hope the Euro to strengthen more against the dollar.

There is a trend being witnessed of flower farms diversifying to fruits and vegetables, what’s your take on this?
Very few have diversified especially doing large volumes. These are things that are coming up and they will definitely come up. Going forward we need to embrace them otherwise we will be left behind. This is a period of change which we need to embrace and be willing to learn and be open minded.

How is the evolution of varieties taking shape?
One of the key important factors to the success of a farm is to have a good variety. When we started the farm we built a greenhouse and went to get a variety from the breeder. Today, we check if there is a good variety then we begin construction of greenhouses. If you don’t have good varieties it’s good to wait first, the dynamics have changed. When you have a good variety you are able to sell 365 days a year and not just on valentine or mother days.

With the current weather patterns, how are the farms coping?
Since the rains were minimal most flower farms had a good production leading to lower prices. We only hope the rains will come. I personally believe that if we have a good rainy season its God’s way of managing demand and supply.

Will the supply of flowers in future make companies to consolidate for marketing purposes?
I don’t see that happening in Kenya for a very long time to come. This is what is happening in Colombia and Ecuador where few companies have merged into one consortium for marketing purposes. This can only happen when growers begin throwing flowers but in Kenya growers sale more through the auction market and also through direct market as well.

In conclusion what are your expansion plans?
We would like to improvise on our current plans rather than expansion.