| dc.description.abstract | “Summer flowers”, the general name given to annual species and bulbous
perennials traditionally grown during summer in northern Europe, they include
Ornithogalum saundersie (commercially known as “Arabicum”), Alstromeria spp.,
Ornithogalum thyrsoides, Erygium spp., Cyperus alternifolius, Polianthes tuberosa,
Rumohra abiantiformis and Limonium sinuatum, just to mention a few. The
floriculture industry is one of the fastest growing sub-sectors of the horticultural
industry in the Kenyan economy. In 2004, floriculture contributed 53.1% of all horticultural
export volumes and 57.4% of all horticultural export earnings. The cut flower
industry is dominated by large-scale sophisticated outfits, growing mainly flowers in
greenhouse. Smallholder contribution to the total earning from the sector has been
declining steady, from an estimated 13.5% share of total value of exports in 2000 to an
estimated 5.1% in 2004. A study was carried out to analyse the profitability of
smallholder flower enterprises and Arabicum was used as a model crop. The two-stage
purposive random sampling technique and a structured questionnaire were used to
interview 45 farmers in Kiambu, Thika and Murang’a districts. The analysis revealed
that most of the farmers had no indication of the return on capital or the amount of
capital utilize. Most of the farmers were aware about their day-to-day costs such as
labour, fertilizer, and chemical use. Most of these farmers had no information on the
market, because the marketing and logistics are handled by a marketing agent, who
has the access to the relevant infrastructure. The study concluded that smallholder
flower production in Thika and Murang’a districts was not profitable while in
Kiambu district the enterprise was profitable with a Benefit cost ratio (BCR) of 0.2
and 1.4 respectively. | en_US |
