Iceland volcano: Kenya’s farmers losing $1.3m a day in flights chaos
engulfs Europe
after the volcanic ash cloud over Europe grounded cargo shipments from Africa.
workers could be told to stay at home if flights did not resume by Tuesday, which
would deal a serious blow to the country’s economy.
world and that’s come to a complete halt,” said Ariff Shamji, managing director
of AAA Growers in Nairobi. “By Tuesday we’re going to have to make tough decisions.
We can’t keep having people come to work and not have any work to do.”
shipments to Europe. Kenya normally exports up to 500 tonnes of flowers daily
– 97% of which is delivered to Europe. Horticulture earned Kenya 71 billion shillings
( £594m) in 2009 and is the country’s top foreign exchange earner.
broccoli, sugar snap peas, and runner beans. Shamji said he has delayed harvesting
some produce and might try to ship to Belgium or Spain. From there vegetables
can be trucked to market.
in the vase, a carnation 10.
Kenya were suspended early Thursday morning. But if they can’t start shipping
in earnest in the next day or two, they will have to dump much of their product.
load rotting product on trucks and dump it back at their farms. Some farms were
throwing cut flowers straight from the field on to compost heaps.
each day, has asked some European buyers for a temporary waiver on quality guarantees.
“Time is of the essence and time is ticking,” said its production director, Hamish
Ker.
