Supplier of postharvest treatment and flower care products, Chrysal Africa, on June 5 launched its cutting-edge flower testing facility at the company’s premises in Nairobi.
The state-of-the-art facility incorporates a large vase-life room that meets international standards. It also has four controlled atmosphere chambers that can be used to test different parameters for flowers including oxygen and carbon dioxide emissions during long-storage and sea freight, as well as an innovative data platform called Blue Box.
These features enable extensive trials and testing as well as data mining to determine optimal treatment parameters and controlled atmosphere settings for any flower on any given day.
The launch of the facility emphasizes the strategic partnership between Chrysal, Kenya Flower Council (KFC), and the Dutch Embassy, with a mission to evolve sea freight of flowers from Kenya in the coming years.
Ambassador of the Kingdom of The Netherlands to Kenya, Maarten Brouwers, who graced the launch reiterated the significance of the flower industry to both Kenya and Holland pointing out that his country is a key partner and investor in Kenya’s floriculture sector.
“In the last 30 years, there has been a great investment in revamping facilities including the port at Rotterdam to handle perishable goods. Let’s make use of these facilities to enhance trade between our countries,” Ambassador Brouwers said. “We look at Kenya as the gateway to the East Africa Community, while the Netherlands is the gateway to Europe in terms of flower and horticulture trade.”
He noted that working together among the private sector players will ensure that there is enhanced success in the cooperation between the two countries, especially in the flower industry.
“The ambition is to enable Kenya to export 50 percent of its flowers through the sea to Europe and other market destinations. Today’s consumers are choosy when it comes to flowers and horticulture products,” he said. “Consumers demand that we produce and ship flowers sustainably with minimal CO2 emissions. Convincing the consumers that we are doing this requires investing in green and sustainable means to both produce and ship the flowers to markets.”
KFC CEO, Clement Tulezi reiterated the partnership between Kenya and the Netherlands noting that despite the bottlenecks in Kenya’s flower industry, there are positive stories emanating from the sub-sector.
“We appreciate the effort that Chrysal is putting into addressing some of the challenges affecting the Kenyan flower industry. I encourage growers and exporters to make use of this facility,” Mr Tulezi said. “The future of flower export is in sea freight because we need more options and also to enhance sustainability in the flower industry.”
Mr. Tulezi restated KFC’s commitment to making growth and sustainability in Kenya’s flower industry a success. And the facility launched by Chrysal is a positive step towards achieving this feat. “We know that from this initiative, there will be a lot more success stories,” he said.
Reiterating the fact that sustainability is at the core of Chrysal International’s operations, the company’s CEO Remko Muntinga noted the drive for sea transport is fast gaining momentum in the global flower-producing countries.
“For instance, sea freight is extensively used in Colombia. And the sooner Kenya follows suit, the better for the industry,” Mr Muntinga said.
The drive for the adoption of sea freight for Kenyan flowers is fast becoming a reality as the country currently delivers about 20 containers of flowers to its markets through the sea every week.
The launch of the facility by Chrysal will therefore play a key role in enhancing the adoption of sea freight in Kenya’s floriculture sub-sector as sustainability steadily becomes a key factor for the success of the flower industry.
Chrysal’s inauguration of the facility was attended by other stakeholders including representatives from the fresh produce industries such as shipping and logistics companies, CMA CGM, and Maersk, as well as influential growers, major flower importers, and other relevant industry players.
