2 minutes read
- Horticulture products exports, Kenya’s Primary foreign exchange earner is severely hit following cancellation of overseas orders
- flower exports are the worst hit, with almost 100 percent cancellation of the orders
Horticulture products exports, Kenya’s Primary foreign exchange earner is severely hit following cancellation of overseas orders as an offshoot of the coronavirus outbreak. Kenya’s economy depends heavily on the agricultural sector, with horticulture, tea and coffee exports being the most important drivers. Earnings from the sector had already witnessed a fall of 6.5% last year.
The Directorate of Horticulture has reported that flower exports are the worst hit, with almost 100 percent cancellation of the orders. Benjamin Tito, the head of the directorate said that the cancellation has forced some flower farms in Naivasha to shut their operations.
The closure of the world’s largest flower auction in Amsterdam and suspension of flights, contributed to the plight denying access to Kenya’s produce to the world market. Over 85 percent of Kenya’s flowers are exported to Amsterdam for auction and bought by different European countries. Fresh Producers Consortium of Kenya (FPC) said that the cancellation of orders means approximately Sh3 billion loss across the value chain in a day. Following the lockdown, farms will have to incur huge losses in the next couple of months
Another Kenyan export product that is hit is coffee. The value of coffee at the weekly auction declined by eight percent to Sh19,998 from Sh21,836 in the previous trading again due to the global spread of the coronavirus curbing its demand. Coffee earnings also dropped last year by12 percent on account of low global prices.
