Valentines : Kenyan rose farmers impacted due to inflation and war in Ukraine

(13 Feb 2023)
KENYA VALENTINE'S FLOWERS

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

LENGTH: 6:28

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kajiado, Kenya - 9 February 2023

1. Pull focus of red roses
2. Pan of red roses being grown in large greenhouse
3. Various of workers harvesting red roses
4. Various close ups of red roses
5. Wide of workers packing and sorting flowers in warehouse
6. Various of workers preparing roses and packing
7. Worker pulling leaves off roses
8. Worker packaging roses
9. Various set-up shot of Ananth Kumar, group marketing manager, Isinya Roses and Porini Flowers
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ananth Kumar, group marketing manager, Isinya Roses and Porini Flowers:
"All our exports to Russia was passing through Netherlands and now since there is a restriction from Netherlands, there is no export to Russia we are facing a big problem, bigger challenges and also in Ukraine, we had five percent of our volumes going into Ukraine also which has completely stopped now. With the restriction of Netherlands transporting to Russian countries, even the Russian orders have dropped drastically. That volume, we are trying to see where we can sell, which countries can take that which is still a struggle, we are still struggling on that."

11. Kumar talking with worker, packaging flowers
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ananth Kumar, group marketing manager, Isinya Roses and Porini Flowers:
"Because of the euro exchange rate to the dollar, that has also hit us badly. All our sales had dropped at one point; it had gone to a thirty percent drop due to the recession in the European side. At the same time, the fertiliser cost us doubled, the packaging cost has increased, the freight rate has increased - so that was a very hard time for us to survive."

13. Various of workers, sorting and packing flowers
14. Close of flowers
15. Various of workers, sorting and packing flowers
16. Harriet Iminza sorting and packing flowers
17. Close of roses bunched
18. SOUNDBITE (English/Kiswahili) Harriet Iminza, employee at Isinya Roses:
"Love makes the world go round. People should continue to buy roses - the more they buy flowers, the more I earn a sufficient income that enables me to support my family."

19. Close of rose
20. Various of roses being harvesting by worker
21. Various close up of roses at farm

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nairobi, Kenya - 10 February 2023

22. Various set-up shots of Clement Tulezi, CEO Kenya Flower Council, in his office
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Clement Tulezi, CEO Kenya Flower Council
"The euro, we have seen in the last 12 months has lost value against the dollar on about 12, 15 percent and that is huge. That goes back to all the expenses that we incur, in terms of importing the materials that we use on the farm. But also when we export because a lot of contracts are in euros and then when you have lost that value and you have to continue trading with the US also, getting a few things in the US, it just becomes complicated. It just continues to shrink the market, it goes really to eat into the bottom line, you know into the profit for the growers exporter so, everyday we are always hoping that international currencies will remain very stable."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kajiado, Kenya - 9 February 2023

24. Various of tracking shot of worker harvesting roses at farm flower harvesting
25. Various of close up of roses

LEADIN:

Kenyan flower growers prepare roses for export ahead of Valentine's Day.

But despite being a busy period - flower growers are also feeling the impact of the war in Ukraine and high inflation.

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