I don’t usually quote poets in my head, but the purple-blossomed trees here make me think of Lorna Goodison’s poem, “To Us, All Flowers Are Roses.” (Goodison is a Jamaican poet, and her poem is really about place names in Jamaica, but for some reason, the electric purple trees remind me of it. I don't have Goodison's anthology here with me in Kenya, otherwise I would quote from it. It's a beautiful poem.)
One of Kenya’s biggest industries is horticulture (flowers, fruits and vegetables are the top export). Kenya is Europe’s lead supplier of flowers, according to the Kenya Flower Council. The Kenya Horticultural Council reports that the horticulture sector grows by 15 to 20 per cent each year and employs 4.5 million people. Areas in southwestern Kenya have become major flower-growing centres: near Lake Naivasha, Nakuru, Mt. Elgon, Eldoret and the Mt. Kenya region.
The top exported flower? Roses.
After some reading, I have learned that the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) – to which Kenya still hasn’t signed on – are expected to make Kenya an even bigger flower and produce exporter to the EU. The EPAs are meant to establish free-trade areas between the European community and African, Caribbean and Pacific states. Proponents of the EPAs say that if Kenya doesn’t sign on, it could lose millions of shillings in revenue (EPAs are meant to be reciprocal). Other analysts, however, suggest that the EPAs favour Europe, since its cheaper goods will have easier access to African markets. All of this raises questions about whether policy priorities should centre on food self-sufficiency (floriculture uses a lot of arable land and water that, some critics argue, could be used to farm food for local consumption) or earning foreign exchange.
(If you're interested, you can read more about this debate in Khadija Sharife's story Biotechnology and Dispossessions in Kenya, in Pambazuka News' latest issue.)
I pass a garden centre on my way to work. It’s right at the edge of the road. Rows and rows of little black bags (or large white bags) of dirt – like flower pots – neatly sectioned off into blooming flowers, ground cover, ferns, trees, and even hanging plants. I don’t know much about flowers, so all I can spot so far are geraniums, impatiens, poinsettias, gerber daisies, and roses. Nairobi seems like a great city for a garden.
There are flowers all over Nairobi, in completely un-manicured places, too. For example, in the ditches along the sides of roads, there are tiny orange flowers growing on dusty bushes. Creeping up the fence outside the army barracks in the south end of the city are bright fuchsia flowers. Pink flowers cascade over the outer wall of the Progressive Park Hotel near my office. The flowers stand out against the sky (hazy quite often), the ground (rust-coloured dirt) and the buildings. The electric purple tree near my building makes me happy no matter what.
