SOSIANI FARM, 15 years of growing flowers excellently
Being in existence for one and half decade, growing flowers excellently is no mean feat. Zena-Sosiani, one of the farm under Zena Roses group has existed since March 2004. The farm is situated in Eldoret, about 12 km south east of Eldoret town.
Zena Sosiani largely produces elegant T-Hybrid roses and premium spray roses. The Farm has 25 hectares; 20 hectares under roses and 5 hectares under carnations, Gypsophilla, Eucalyptus and Alstromeria at 2150metres above sea level.
Sosiani takes pride in being the best rose grower in Eldoret and its environs as well as being the first to cultivate new varieties introduced to the market by their sister company United Selections to serve customers across the globe with vibrant colours and specialties.
On their fifteen years anniversary, Phanuel Ochunga one of the farm manager concurs that Zena Roses Limited which was established in 1996 and is the trade name of the group has come a long way.
The mission of the Group is ‘To be a leading producer and exporter of high quality cut flowers within the ethically acceptable international standards’. The management is committed to maintaining systems of control over sourcing, growing, processing and handling of their products; ensuring product, personnel and environmental safety, quality legality and conformity to their customer standards.
Sosiani Farm has undertaken many innovations and thus pegging on their high quality production that has been their driving philosophy, enabled them to penetrate into different markets worldwide. They are considered among the best producer of flower bouquets globally.
Over the years, the farm has embraced growing flowers with less chemicals, exercising quality and consistent Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). They have adopted organic method of farming using vermin-culture, which has the advantage of nutrients taking longer time before being depleted in soil.
The farm uses red wriggler worms which aid in decomposition of waste leafy materials from their pack house and greenhouses. The decomposed materials and the worm castings are then applied to the soils while the vermi-liquid is pumped as fertigation fertilizer. This has led to the farm reducing on use of synthetic fertilizers.
“For a long time we were largely farming on hydroponics, but currently we are shifting to soil. To be precise, we are now 70 percent in soil and 30 percent on hydroponics. The choice of moving from hydroponics to soil was informed by the fact that crops grown in soil take more years to be exhausted as compared to crops under hydroponics. Also in hydroponics, the coco peat becomes saturated hence aeration is affected. Soil farming enables crops to grow with much vigor. The only major advantage of hydroponic farming is that the excess water and nutrients is re-cycled,’’ Phanuel said.
The farm being MPS certified, uses good farming practices and ensures that their operations are environmentally friendly. They have invested in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and they are very strict on the types of chemicals and pesticides sprayed. “We are conscious with the chemicals we apply to our flowers. We don’t just spray if pests are noticed, we have an extensive scouting program on pests and we only apply sanctioned chemicals of class 3 and 4 which are friendly and compatible to environment. Chemicals of class 1 and 2 whose strong effects are well known, are prohibited in this farm,” Ochunga explained.
To consistently produce and supply high quality flowers, the farm has invested heavily on staff; through trainings as well as motivation. They have developed a culture where staff works hand in hand from production to marketing. “We see each other as a family where our relationship is built on trust and mutual respect.
We have created an open indoor policy which allows workers to raise any pressing issue which they need to be addressed. We put their interests first, ensuring they have what they need at the right time; for example protective gears and allocating time to lactating mothers to breastfeed their babies. This is one of the ways we want to appreciate them for their hard work,” Ochunga said.
Being located in Eldoret has been an added advantage to the farm as the climate is cool and there is no water shortage; “Sosiani River is next to the Farm, we are located along equator which is a good place for solar radiations. In case push comes to shove, we have a permanent source of water and we can micromanage the climate in the greenhouses. During the dry spell we were experiencing in the month of March – April, we were sprinkling 10 cubic meters of water to control the heat in greenhouses,” Benard Muthuri, Sosiani Sales Department commented.
The farm has established a robust wetland where all water effluents are taken through various stages of cleansing before being recycled. Their mantra of ‘take care of the environment and it will take good care of you’ has seen them co-exist well with the surroundings.
As the farm takes stock for the last 15 years moving forward, the manager’s plea to the government is to address delays of VAT returns, as well as reduction of taxation of various farm inputs such fertilizer and chemicals.“Lowering the price of obtaining Phytosanitary certificate is another area that the Government should look into as it consumes flower sale margins which have kept on depleting over the years. The wage bill keeps on skyrocketing while prices of flowers have stagnated for a long time, at some instances hitting rock bottom thus affecting flower business. There is great potential in this industry; the Government should holistically address the ailments,” Ochunga said.
