NAIROBI, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Located in Kenya's central highlands, Martin Gitau believes that his mid-sized farm has an ideal location for cultivation of summer flowers.
The 39-year-old father of two has been growing arabicum flowers since 2019 on his half acre piece of land that is situated in Nyandarua, about 130 kilometers northwest of Kenya's capital, Nairobi.
Gitau told Xinhua on Monday that he was introduced to cultivation of the crop by a colleague at his former work place where he was a clerk.
"Growing of arabicum is a profitable venture because it takes three months to mature and has a ready market," said Gitau.
He revealed that in order to maintain soil fertility he grows the crop twice a year and receives an average profit of about 100,000 shillings (about 880 U.S. dollars) from every harvest.
Summer flowers are typically grown only in summer in northern European countries, but can be cultivated throughout the year in Kenya due to abundant sunshine.
The most common summer flowers in Kenya include arabicum, craspedia and eryngium and are used to blend other flowers in order to make a bouquet.
Gitau said that he was convinced to begin his flower enterprise because of the contract he signed with a flower exporter who guarantees to buy all the produce so long as it meets international standards.
He said that by becoming an outgrower for an established large scale export firm, he receives high quality seeds and training that enables him to succeed in business.
Gitau is a part of a group of 100 small-scale farmers who sell their harvests to an export oriented company for onward sales.
Benjamin Tito, Head of the Directorate of Horticulture, said that the volume of Kenya flower exports between January and November 2021 was about 191.8 million kilograms compared to 132.9 million kilograms for a similar period in 2020.
Tito said that revenues for Kenya's flower exports for the first 11 months of 2021 was about 101 billion shillings.
He noted that flowers are one of Kenya's leading foreign exchange earners with key destinations including Netherlands, Britain, Germany and Norway.
Tito said that the country's floriculture industry is dominated by large-scale farmers but small-scale farmers are now an integral part of the sector.
Rachael Kariuki began growing ammi flowers last year after she was retrenched from her job as a legal officer in 2020.
The 34-year-old mother of three said that she took up cultivation of the summer flowers on her one acre piece of land in Kirinyaga, which is located about 110 kilometers northeast of Nairobi.
Kariuki chose ammi flowers because they are a short season crop that requires little application of pesticides to realize sufficient harvests.
"The flowers are harvested within 90 days of planting," said Kariuki, who is also a contract farmer who sells her produce to a large exporter of flowers which guarantees a secure market.
Sospeter Muriuki began craspedia farming on his half acre piece of land, located in Naivasha which is about 90 kilometers northwest of Nairobi.
The 30-year-old's farm which he inherited from his father is nestled in Kenya's Rift Valley which contains ideal soils for flower farming.
He told Xinhua that he ventured into the summer flower cultivation because they can be grown in the open fields as compared to roses which are nurtured in greenhouses.
Muriuki had signed a contract with a flower exporter who has committed to buy his produce. Enditem