NAZRET (Ethiopia): Inside Jobera Flowers’ vast greenhouses, there are rows of rose buds ready for harvest and destined to brighten rooms in faraway Europe.
The Jobera farm, about 90km south of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, is one of the most successful in a thriving industry that is helping to diversify the country’s coffee-dependent economy.
The Horn of Africa country, which prides itself on being the birthplace of coffee, earns about $20 million annually from flowers, according to the Ethiopian Horticulture Producers and Exporters Association.
It is still a paltry amount compared to the $334 million it earned last crop year from sales of coffee, its main export commodity. But given the rate of growth in the flower industry, it could soon catch up — good news for an economy that has been ruled by fluctuating coffee prices for many years.
“Ethiopia will rank as the second or third (biggest exporter) in the world in the next two to three years. I think this will be the major supply for the whole world,” said Mike Asres, owner of Jobera Flowers.
Despite having no experience in growing blossoms for sale, Asres decided to risk savings worth $3.1 million and took out a $2.4 million loan when a close friend told him Ethiopia’s climate was ideal for the lucrative industry.
In 2000, after 25 years of a relatively comfortable life in the United States, he set up one of the first commercial flower farms in Ethiopia.
Like Asres, many local farmers are pouring their savings into flowers, and foreign investors — from the Netherlands, Germany, India and Israel — are also buying up land for farms.
The government has sought to entice investors with incentives, including an improved investment code, five-year tax holiday, duty-free import of machinery, and by leasing land out at just $18 per hectare per year.
The plan appears to be working — 70 new farms have sprung up in the last eight years, including Tsegaye Abebe’s on the outskirts of the capital.
There is so much demand for his products that he rarely gets time off to spend with his two young daughters.—Reuters
