“The Netherlands needs to work very hard if it wants to keep its position as number-one hub in the international flower trade.” That’s what Judith Zuurbier, director of Van Kleef Roses in Kenya, said recently.
Zuurbier discussed the topic during an episode of Jungle Talks on Paprika Tasty Radio. She indicated that growers in Kenya have never felt the need to diversify, because they had the flower auction in the Netherlands. “It was fine for all of us to just do the same thing, our produce was automatically distributed anyway.”
By now, the Kenyan floriculture sector is at a crossroads, according to Zuurbier. The flower production is diversifying. It used to be that growers chose rose because it’s an easy crop, explained Zuurbier. If there’s a problem, the woody plant will recover quite easily. But the global market for rose is saturated.
Diversification
Zuurbier: “We can only expand if one of the other growers drops out. There’s no more growth in rose. The current conditions demand diversification. We’re at a turning point. We’re heading towards the Colombian model, we’re going to cultivate a much broader assortment.” (..)
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