Naivasha and St Valentine - and the stupidity of Mr Hilary Benn

Naivasha is in the news as Kikuyu mobs rob, rape, steal and burn. It is also centre of Kenya’s flower business, part of foreign owned horticultural industry that has expanded rapidly in recent years to earn some US$90 Mn.million annually, and a major source of foreign exchange. aivasha has more than 37 flower farms with an estimated workforce of over 40,000 people.

Growing carnations and roses to send by air freight to European and US markets provides many jobs, but Lake Naivasha is now sterile, the fish / protein it yielded has declined to virtually zero, poisoned by chemicals such Methylbromide (a toxic substance banned in most countries under the Montreal protocol) which is still sanctioned by the EU and the US for the production of imported flowers from Kenya.

De -forestation for extending plantations leads to water run off, erosion and further destruction of the lake's biosphere and water extraction further damages the lake.

Employees earn low wages (Annual GDP is US$1,200 per head) to meet the demand - soaring as February 14th beckons. This is what happened last year (31/1/07) "Hundreds of workers at a leading Kenyan flower farm rioted after being sacked en masse for striking in a dispute over wages and working conditions, officials and witnesses said on Tuesday."This rioting was at the 20,000 hectare Oserain flower farm which does massive business with the supermarket chains Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer ' . "leader in worker welfare" says their website. Fair Trade says the labels in Sainsbury's and now after a launch at the Royal Show this year - Kenya's "Grown Under the Sun" label which, according to Kenya Flower Council chief executive Jane Ngige, has led to increased interest in Kenya produce and a subsequent surge in earnings.

The Kenyan Planning and National Development Ministry produced statistics that showed the industry's earnings hit the Sh31 B. as at June, representing a 57 % growth over a similar period last year backed by a strong demand for cut flowers in key international markets. (report 6/1/08)

Is it possible that this industry is the cause of much of the rage expressed by the raging mobs ?

Don't expect any press / TV analysis of the commercial flower markets of Kenya, who controls it or who extracts the profits from the country ... features to write about St Valentine, full page ads from the supermarkets selling flowers for that "special day". The UK is expected to import 10,000 tonnes of roses for Valentine's Day .

PS : You might be interested in what Hilary Benn (Min Overseas Dev.) had to say , when he spoke to told an international sustainable food conference in February last year . " ... recent research showed that flowers flown from Africa used less energy than those produced in Europe, because they're not grown in heated greenhouses."

"A recent study shows that the emissions produced by growing flowers in Kenya and flying them to the UK can be less than a fifth of those grown in heated and lighted greenhouses in Holland because Kenya is warm and sunny, and heating greenhouses in Holland uses enormous amounts of energy," Mr Benn said in a statement.

Well that pic at the top shows the 50 hectares (at the last count) of the Oserian geothermally heated greenhouses. Here is a close up and a little explanation about how they produce Co2 .. take note Mr Benn. (click to enlarge) learn more at their website.

The Boy David on 10 January 2008 about what the FCO call the "Kenya crisis" (FCO website)

'The principles of our approach remain: to secure a rapid end to the violence: hundreds have already been tragically killed. Kenya’s leaders must live up to their responsibilities, end this violence, and work for the security and safety of the people of Kenya; " etc., etc.,

However it things turn bad there ....The East African Standard Tuesday September 12, 2006 "Flower firms threaten to move to Ethiopia" ..."Sher Agencies, a leading world producer of rose flower, has already acquired a large tract of land in Ethiopia. The firm produces 600 million stems annually. According to Human Resource Manager Mr Martin Kamwaro, Ethiopia is offering them a 10-year tax holiday."..."Kijabe Limited, another leading farm, is believed to have sold off their flower farm and sought greener pastures in Ethiopia. Two other Dutch Investors at the Three Point farm are among those who have relocated to Ethiopia, "

Just as the highly mobile garment industry there is always a work force somewhere willing to work for slave wages. Which is why the mobs are out in Naivasha - but don't expect to read it in the Daily Mail.

Incidentally you can go to Tesco ONline to order your St Valentine's flowers...or M&S

Killing 100,000 calves at birth concentrates the minds of Ministers, farmers and Supermarket meat buyers

When Sherpa Tensing was showing Edmund Hilary up Everest, the dairy farmers of the UK's fields were decorated with brown and white Aryshire cows, and bulky well built Friesians that would yield milk for 7/8 years. Milk yield per cow was in the region of 5 gallons of milk per day , plus a useful beef product at the end of it's life , there was also a thriving although small veal trade.

Now the milking herds which feed the supermarkets who control the domestic milk trade rely on the Holstein milk machines which can yield 120 litres per day, but may be so worn out they only serve 3 lactation cycles. The average Holstein cross cow now produces a lifetime 8,285 litres against just 4,000 litres in 1974.

These sedentary cows never see grass, they are kept indoors , fed (up to now) on the subsidised , but increasingly expensive grains that the barley barons have so effectively produced.

Cows need to breed to produce milk and a consequence is 160,000 male calves are born every year. Currently 100,000 or 2,000 a week are simply shot at a day old. Now that live exports restarted in May last year after the ten-year ban EU BSE beef ban the remainder are sent to the continental veal trade ( and fetch some £50 each - £200 before BSE hit the herds) where after removal from their mother at birth and shipment they are left a short (8 week) life fed, not on mother's milk but a high protein diet and a lonely life to prevent too much exercise and resultant growth of connective tissue (gristle) to provide the perfect pink veal cutlet.

Then the the foot-and-mouth outbreak in August stopped all live beef exports and the shooting of worthless day old calves made a quantum jump.

There is a small organic veal trade in the UK which forms 0.1% of the retail meat trade, almost exclusively to the Metropolitan restaurant trade.Now the Gubment want to boost this trade and A Beyond Live Exports working group chaired by Lord Rooker, the Minister for Farming and Animal Welfare, wants to develop a national production scheme that ensures the rearing of a calf from birth until it is ready for slaughter in optimum welfare conditions. "On the hook, and not on the hoof" is the PR mantra from DeFRA about this desire to change export policy on calves.

They working group identified two targets - the production of rosé veal, where calves will live outdoors, be fed on a mixture of grass and milk and slaughtered at 10 to 12 months. The other is for calves to be fattened on grass until they are 16 to 19 months, to produce young beef - which with the current obession with Holsteins is simply impractical.

Heather Jenkins, the head of meat buying at Waitrose is keen on their Calfline project to promote UK veal and Tesco are promoting organic rosé veal this spring.

Duncan Sinclair, head of agriculture at Waitrose, told the annual Semex Dairy Conference in Glasgow (13/15 Jan 2008) that the Calfline scheme appealed to consumers, because it offered a realistic alternative to exporting dairy calves to Continental veal units.

"The future will bring more of these schemes," forecast Mr Sinclair. ``Issues for consumers now include climate change and the impact of globalisation. Schemes built around a relationship between farmers and retailers add value to food and they certainly increase customer appeal," he said.

Duncan Sinclair is a bit of a conference groupie he is addressing British Cattle Conference, 2008 in hrewsbury today in on the subject The Native Breeds - Is it time for a revival?and you can catch him at Keele University on 5th February talking about - “A Retailers View of Sustainability” - you can also read about how Waitrose work with the beef industry here see pic.

It is interesting that the British Cattle Conference kicks off this morning with a presentation Reinventing Dairy Beef by Kev Bevan, Senior Rural Business Consultant, Scottish Agricultural Services - SAC Select Services, Auchincruive, Ayrshire kev.bevan@sac.co.uk

The abstract in the program reads ..."The UK and EU have a structural beef deficit that is expected to grow in coming years with South American imports predicted to fill this deficit. This gloomy outlook, however, need not arise if new breeding technologies can be allied to enlightened supply chain management to lift the value of beef from Holsteins."

The Conference will also hear about the rising threat from South America Beef Production in Brazil - Threat or Opportunity? by Professor José Fernando Piva LobatoAssociate Professor of Beef Production Systems, University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It is therefore interesting that two "workshops" will discuss, during the conference the propositions ;'This club believes we should breed a dual function dairy cow' and 'This Club believes we should breed beef composites'

Straw in the wind ?