Say it with Fairtrade flowers

$250 - Value of the Kenyan cut flower industry 55,000 - Workers directly employed in the industry, mainly young women 56.64 - Average life expectancy for Kenyans 25% - Proportion of cut flowers sold in the EU that come from Kenya

In the UK, flowers accompany many of life’s milestones – birth, death, commitment, illness, romance and congratulations. In Kenya, which supplies a quarter of the flowers for the EU market, Fairtrade is bringing fundamental change for the workers and communities behind the beautiful bouquets we buy.

The first Fairtrade flowers arrived in the UK shops in 2004 and since then the market has grown rapidly, with 83 million stems sold in 2007, bringing enormous benefits to the farms they are sourced from. At Ravine Roses, Fairtrade certified since 2004, Koske Vincent, chair of the Joint Body, outlined the responsibilities of deciding how to invest the Fairtrade premium received by the workers. ‘It is a very democratic and transparent process... The Joint Body advertises to collect suggestions for the use of the premium – from the workers and also from the community, so that gives the elders their opportunity too. We look for projects against certain criteria – there must be no duplication, they must be manageable, most people must have voted for them, they must be sustainable.’ Those projects include funding further education for workers and a community shop where the costs of items such as bicycles, solar panels and sewing machines are shared between individuals and the Joint Body.

Workers on flower farms in Kenya face the same challenge of rising food prices as others across the world. The rising cost of food causes hardship for the poorest, because it is that on which they spend the majority (up to 80 per cent) of their income. Selling more of their flowers on the Fairtrade market would help workers like Koske deal with price rises, because being able to invest the Fairtrade premium on projects such as the community shop leaves more money for food from their wages. Although the demand for Fairtrade flowers is increasing, there is still a long way to go.

Huge difference

Shoppers in the UK are sometimes reluctant to buy cut flowers from outside the EU because of concerns about the treatment of workers and the environmental impact of growing and importing flowers. Cut flowers are the only Fairtrade product routinely air freighted, and research suggests that growing and transporting flowers from countries such as Holland is far more energy intensive than those grown in and shipped from Kenya. For more on this, please see www.fairtrade.org.uk/qandaclimatechange. Under Fairtrade standards flower farms must commit to improving the working and living conditions of their workers beyond the industry’s statutory obligations; workers have the right to join a union for example and they are not allowed to be forced into excessive overtime to deal with peak periods such as Valentine’s Day. The Fairtrade premium makes a huge difference to communities otherwise deprived of opportunities we take for granted, such as secondary education. Finlay Flowers supplies roses and lilies to Sainsburys and Co-op. Workers there chose to use the Fairtrade premium for materials and teacher training to thirty nursery schools in the area. It has also bought books for a secondary school library, provides bursaries for secondary school pupils and three university scholarships.

New farms

The opportunities Fairtrade gives workers in Kenya are needed now more than ever. The recent post election crisis displaced thousands of families across the country and highlighted the need for urgent investment in community development projects. At the peak of the violence that tore the country apart, Fairtrade certified flower farms provided shelter, water and security to many of the migrant workers in the worst hit areas. Now that stability has been restored the Fairtrade premium can play a powerful role in bringing the community together and replacing destroyed structures.

Emeritus Kasee, general manager at Ravine Roses says: ‘We wish more people would buy Fairtrade flowers. This will help us get more services like health clinics, better schools, sports facilities and much more than bringing an immediate improvement to our lives. It is the way to make the most difference in the rural areas.’ As well as the readymade bouquets for sale in supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsburys and Waitrose, Kenyan grown Fairtrade flowers of all kinds can be found in mail order mixed bouquets from the likes of Next Directory, Interflora and Postal Bouquets.

Single stem Fairtrade flowers, used by florists to make bouquets, will be available in selected independent florists from 2009.

 © Winter 2008 Fair Comment