I’ve been coming here for over 40 years and I’m always amazed at how few Dutch growers have made the move to Kenya to cultivate flowers.
Kenya is a country which has all the ingredients for successful floriculture. The country lies on the equator, so if you’re in a region with a good climate, it will be good all year round.
In this country, you can find horticultural areas with any climate, from sea level to high up in the mountains, with maximum temperatures of 22 or 34 °C and minimum temperatures of 6 to 18 °C. All possible climate zones are literally up for grabs here and remember, you’ll get the same climate throughout the year – there are no summers or winters.
In addition, the Kenyans are great people, who have been working hard the past 40 years. In the early seventies of the last century, Kenya had a population of 12 million; this has increased to 48 million. So you don’t have to worry about labour. There are many people who want to work hard, are willing to learn and speak a language we can understand.
What’s wrong with our Dutch brothers then? Five hundred years ago, no matter how deep the seas or how far away the countries were, the Dutch just went for it. From New York to Australia or Indonesia: we ruled everywhere.
But nowadays, we’d rather get stuck in difficult situations than look for new opportunities and possibilities. Even if they’re there for the taking, only an 8-hour flight away. It’s almost faster to get to Nairobi than to Klazienaveen.
What is it then, that’s made our people so afraid?
The worst thing is that at the moment, most flowers grown in Kenya are cultivated by politicians, bank directors, investment companies and other gold diggers. Let’s face it: if they can do it, wouldn’t we be able to do it even better? As experienced, motivated flower growers. That can’t go wrong, you’d say.
Surely we can’t just stand by and watch one grower after another shut down his nursery in the Netherlands? While there’s plenty of work here for all organisations that have something to do with flowers. Wake up Holland – Kenya needs you!!
Simon van der Burg,
Timaflor, Kenya
