Saturday, December 06, 2003 Along the shores of Lake Naivasha, one of Kenya's most spectacular locales, an encroaching threat is endangering the very survival of the lake itself. It's roses. And carnations. Millions of them. The flower industry in Kenya is booming. Not just any flowers, but hand-cut stems bound for bouquets and vases, carefully picked and packaged for immediate shipment in chilled containers, turning up within 48 hours in the supermarket chains of Britain and across Europe, already wrapped and ready for scanning. It's a giant industry, and Kenya excels at it. Flower exports bring in US$110-million a year, rivalling tea and tourism as the biggest source of foreign earnings for a country that badly needs the money. It's also a highly competitive business, with Kenya going up against Israel and Colombia as the top exporter, with growing interest being shown by Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda. Kenya is not only holding its own, but has become the biggest supplier in Europe, according to the Kenya Flower Council. Which means a lot of income for people who would not otherwise have it, from jobs that otherwise would not exist. All of which sounds disturbingly like good news for a country that does not otherwise have a lot of reasons to get out of bed in the morning. But, perhaps predictably, a dark cloud has been found to blot out that sunny sky. Growing flowers requires pesticides. And fertilizer. And people -- lots of people. People in turn create wastes -- not just candy wrappers and empty pop tins, but serious sanitation issues. And the wastes tend to get into the lake. As the industry has grown, more and more conservation problems have developed. Water levels in the lake have fallen, millions of fish have died, fertilizer and chemical residues have been found in the soil near the shoreline, and birds have perished from eating poisoned fish. While some of the pollution comes directly from the flower farms, the crush of people moving to the area has been at least as big a factor. Andrew Enniskillen, who heads the Lake Naivasha Riparian Association, told reporters recently the number of people living within five kilometres of the lake has multiplied fivefold in 20 years. "Apart from the direct pollution from flower farms, the uncontrolled population growth of poor people in the Naivasha has been the main source of pollution," he said. It was to be expected. Lake Naivasha is a gorgeous place. One of only two freshwater lakes in Kenya, it sits just outside Nairobi at the lower end of the Great Rift Valley. There are giraffes, buffalo and about 15,000 hippos around its shoreline. This is the spot the white folks grabbed for themselves when they ran Kenya, establishing tony clubs and country homes, some of which are still there. Mr. Enniskillen, an Irish earl as well as an airline pilot and gentleman farmer, has an impressive spread of his own by the shore. Boat planes from Britain used to land on the shallow waters -- the lake is 13 kilometres across but averages just five metres deep -- the passengers putting up at the Lake Naivasha Country Club before hopping the bus to Nairobi. The club remains, offering hippo cruises and cocktails in the Flamingo Bar. At one point in the early 1900s, the entire lake dried up, reappearing a few years later after heavy rains. It could happen again: The unpredictability of the lake is one reason conservation people are so worried about it. In addition to flowers, Kenya is shipping increasing amounts of vegetables to Europe -- delicate French beans, snow peas and asparagus shoots, sometimes packaged in little containers flown out from Britain to be filled and sent back the next day. As the twin industries expand, they have attracted increasing attention. A reporter from Britain's left-wing Guardian newspaper visited the lakeside and was predictably perturbed, discovering the workers put in longer hours than advertised, were not overpaid and did not live as well as they might. The workers are overwhelmingly women, often left single thanks to AIDS and unreliable men. They are easily exploited, and, Kenya being a former colony, there is a presumption in some circles that those who can exploit, will. The growers are highly nervous about where this might lead. Europe is a vital customer: Britain is an important market, but the Netherlands is even bigger. It takes about three-quarters of Kenya's output, most of it for re-export. The Kenya Flower Council (KFC) has complained of "a concerted effort by human rights groups and the media to target the flower industry," noting 60,000 jobs are at risk, each one supporting six or seven dependents. The council has been working for some time to limit the damage, largely through an expanding code of practice, worked out with authorities in Europe to meet European standards of environmental protection and worker welfare. The code includes a six-day work week, above-average pay, guaranteed holidays, maternity leave and decent housing. It also has targets for pesticide use and requirements for the use of protective clothing. Homegrown, the biggest exporter, offers free advice on family planning and AIDS. Workers who cut themselves are given "blood bags" to cover their hands to prevent the spread of HIV. To reduce the flood of pollution into the lake, Homegrown built its own two-kilometre waterway and planted it with filtering plants to clean the runoff. Hippos love the plants. The council estimates the average pay for a flower worker is US$1,200 a year, about four times the national average. The KFC has grown from five members to more than 30, representing about 65% of exporters. Members have a year to come into compliance with the code, which is monitored by the European buyers. Rod Evans, a director of Homegrown, told the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization the growers know they are being judged by European standards, not African. "Our members understand it is in our own interest to preserve the environment," he said. © Copyright 2003 National
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