Flower Farm in Zeway Incorporates Breeders, Growers

June 27, 2006

The country’s first state-of-the-art flower farm facility, already incorporating four growers and seven breeders, will be inaugurated on July 1, 2006, by Girma Birru, minister of Trade and Industry, and high profile personalities from Kenya, company sources said.

The facility was established on a 350hct plot near Zeway, 163Km south of Addis Abeba, by Sher Ethiopia Ltd. Sher has 40 million Birr capital registered in Ethiopia and is owned by Dutch nationals Gerrit Barnhoorn, his son Peter and Marco Sandijk.

Construction of the facility began in June 2005, and will likely take three years to complete fully.

The company has a presence in Kenya since 1997 through its sister company, Sher Agencies Ltd.

Production from the two countries will be exported to the Netherlands, where the parent company, Sher Holland BV, works in the Aalsmeer Flower Auction, the largest flower market in the world.

Sher has selected what it considers are the best growers and breeders and brought them to its facility in Zeway.

Tegegn Girum, manager of Sher Ethiopia, disclosed to Fortune that the facility will have a production capacity similar to that in Kenya and it will employ 10,000 people.

Meskel Flowers, the first rose grower in Ethiopia, is one of the selected companies. Mr. Barnhoorn visited Meskel Flower’s 50hct farm located at Meki, and invited the company to join his facility.

“After their experience in Kenya, Sher’s facility in Zeway is much more modern,” said Eskindir Yosef, general manager of Meskel Flower. “They provide you with the necessary infrastructure for flower farming.”

Close to 36 farms have opened in Ethiopia in the past three years, all exporting their products to the European market. They generated 12 million dollars in foreign exchange earnings last year, according to data from the National Bank of Ethiopia. But none of the companies have the facilities like Sher’s.

According to experts in the industry, constructing a flower farm facility in highland areas is more expensive than building it in mid-low land.

“A facility in the highland area is more expensive because it needs computerized green houses,” said an expert.

For instance, it costs 300,000 euros per hectare (about 3.3 million Birr) to set up such a facility in a highland location, while it is 50,000 euros cheaper in low-land areas, according to this expert.

Growers, who have been offered show rooms in the Zeway facility, are Schreurs Gerberas & Roses, Inter Plant, Kordes, Olja Roses, Pressman, De-Ruiter and Chrysant-Hmu. Each showroom lies on a half hectare plot.

Growers get much larger areas; Chibbo Flowers and Zeway Roses have 27hct each, while AQ Roses and Hurburg each got 18hct plots.

By TAGU ZERGAW
FORTUNE STAFF WRITER