Visit to Africalla Flower Farm

Adamson and I went with a friend and colleague today to visit the Africalla flower farm in Limuru.  The farm produces more than 30 varieties of calla lilies that are exported to the Netherlands, Dubai, and South Africa, and also sold locally.  Asparagus ferns are also grown at Africalla, as well as amaryllis plants that another farmer grows on the land.  A recent venture is growing potatoes that Africalla may begin growing and selling locally.

We met Eveline, the wife of one of the farm owners who moved to Kenya from the Netherlands about five years ago, at the location where the calla lilies are grown.  She gave us a tour of the nurseries.  Irrigation pipes run through the beds, with sprinklers set up at regular intervals.  Fertilizer is administered for about five minutes each day through drip tubes that also run through the flower beds.  Africalla is renting 1,000 acres but uses only 100 acres each year.  The lily tubers must be rotated frequently so the soil can recover.  Local farmers use the land not currently being used to grow maize and other crops.

After a tour of the nurseries, we drove about 20 minutes to the farm that Eveline and her husband own with their business partner where the lilies are brought after harvesting, and where asparagus ferns, amaryllis and potatoes are grown.  We saw how the lilies are cleaned, sorted and prepared for market.  Lilies harvested today will be flown to the Netherlands (or another location) tomorrow and will be available for sale in shops the next day.  We also saw the lilies and asparagus ferns being packed for sale.  We then saw where the tubers are taken after being dug.  The tubers are dried, cleaned and divided into new sections that will be planted and grown in beds until they are larger.

The farm is a small campus, with a mechanical shop for repairing the tractors and other equipment, a carpentry shop for making wooden frames for the plants, a seamstress who makes the uniforms and rain gear for the employees, a shop for materials that are used on the farm, and a kitchen to prepare meals for the employees.  Africalla employs around 600 Kenyans and provides health coverage, two meals a day, and a housing allowance, in addition to paying above the minimum daily wage set by the Kenya Flower Council.

Africalla uses recycled material as much as possible in their work.  For example, they purchase the sticks (about 2-3 inch diameter stems) of old coffee plants to use for the low fencing around the calla lily plants in their flower beds.  They recycle existing plastic crates by cutting one end from each of two crates and fastening them together to make containers long enough for the calla lilies after they are harvested.

At the end of the tour, we had tea, coffee and cake in a nice picnic area, and could purchase a bouquet of 10 calla lilies for around $3 and buy a box of tubulars to plant, if desired.

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