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Mesfin KinfeAbout living in Holland

Supervisor KokebeBeautiful Ethiopian people

THE HAGUE - Ms G. Verburgwas appointed Minister or Agri-culture, Nature and Food Qualityon 22 February. Gerritje (Gerda)Verburg was born in Zwammer-dam on 19 August 1957. Afterobtaining the MAVO (interme-diate general secondary educa-tion) and HAVO (higher general

secondary education) diplomas,she attended a socio-cultural edu-cation course in Utrecht for ayear. Between 1976 and 1980 shestudied personnel work andlabour relations at ChristelijkeSociale Academie Ms Verburg was a member of theHouse of Representatives for theCDA between 1998 and 2007.

New minister of agriculture inthe Netherlands

As a Minister who has presided overthe expansion of the horticulture sec-tor and especially the floriculturesubsector, what is your assessment ofits current status? Minister Girma: "First of all we can-not claim that we have been suppor-ting this sector for a very long time.It is only three to four years sincewe've started to directly support thissector. My general assessment is thatwe are on the right track. From whatI know we have now over 600 hecta-res of land under greenhouse in flo-riculture. In a matter of three years,having this number of hectares ofland under greenhouses is one ele-ment of success. In terms of foreignexchange earnings, every month theearnings have been increasing andwe have now reached USD 8 mil-lion. The sector also employs over30. 000 workers. So, I can say, it isone of the successful sectors.

The focus seems to be on the flori-culture subsector. As a policy maker,how about giving equal emphasis tothe other subsectors of horticulturelike fruits, vegetables and herbs?Minister Girma: "It was actually inthe subsectors like fruits and vegeta-bles where Ethiopia was to start, butit was floriculture that took off first.I do not think that we succeeded

with fruits and vegetables as muchas we did with floriculture. So ourfocus now will be on balance withthe other subsectors of the horticul-ture. That is why we have decided toprivatize our public enterprisesdealing with this sector."

You mean the State Farms? Minister Girma: "Yes. We will cutthem into pieces and privatize themso that we will make the growth ofthis sector faster."

But why did you delay in extendingthe kind of attention you bestowedupon the floriculture subsector to thehorticulture in general?Minister Girma: "We wanted to goabout supporting subsector by sub-

sector. We wanted to build up ourexperience, to have a clear focus.That is why we focused on floricul-ture, textiles, leather, garments etce-tera.We have learnt enough that willhelp us to expand to the other sub-sectors. At any rate, the objectivewas not to keep aside the other sub-sectors."

From your point of view, what arethe more serious hurdles that are hol-ding back the growth of horticulture?Minister Girma: "In the horticulturesector, we cannot combine all of theelements, all of the subsectors in onebasket and then talk about them. Ifwe take the floriculture subsector,what has been of primary importan-ce in making it successful is its short

supply chain. The shorter the supplychain, the better it would help you tomake the intervention. You importthe planting materials. The nextimportant thing is managing thefarms and then export. In this shortsupply chain, it will not be that diffi-cult to point out where you canmake the intervention and how youcan make the difference. When thesupply chain is longer, the areas ofinterventions would be wider. Andthat would require, of course, manyinterventions at a time. Regardingthe other elements of the sector, firstof all, there has not been any expe-rience of having very large size ofvegetable and fruit subsectors in the country.

(continued on page 3)

‘We are on the right track’An exclusive interview with H.E. Girma Birru, Ethiopian Minister of Trade and Industry

HE Girma Birru, Ethiopian Minister of Trade and Industry

ADDIS ABABA - H.E. GirmaBirru, Minister of Trade andIndustry of the Federal Demo-cratic Republic of Ethiopia, in anexclusive interview with HollandHortinews, talks about the dazz-ling growth of Ethiopian floricul-ture and his wish to make thevegetable and fruit sector of hiscountry even more successful.There is no country in Africawhere horticulture gets moreattention. “The Ethiopian Go-vernment is supporting the sectoron an every-day basis.”

‘No investor regrets his decision to come here’H.E. Mr Alphons J.A.J.M.G. Hennekens, Dutch ambassador in Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA - Since September2005 Mr. Alphons Hennekens is theDutch ambassador in Addis Ababaand representative to the AfricanUnion. To his opinion the bilateralrelations between Ethiopia and TheNetherlands are showing improve-ments, in particular in the field ofhorticulture.

Mr. Hennekens is particularly happythat the Ministry of Agriculture in theNetherlands decided to nominate anAgricultural Counsellor who has been

pivotal in contracting and furtheringrelations in Government to Govern-ment level in the field of commercialand horticulture cooperation.With regard to bureaucracy Henne-kens stresses that bureaucracy is afact in every society and that there isalways an everywhere a need to makeit as functional as possible. "The factthat a lot of Dutch companies decidedto invest in Ethiopia means that theinvestment climate in the country isfavorable. Otherwise, you wouldn'tsee the tremendous growth in invest-ment that we have seen in the last 2 -

3 years. That doesn't mean that therearen't any problems that one oftenencounters.” A problem is lack of communicationfacilities. "Everybody knows thatEthiopian Telecommunication Cor-poration is not actually doing what issaying on the billboards, 'ConnectingEthiopia to the World'. It is a difficultissue that needs priority. The bankingsector also needs to be improved.Banks here are generally conservativewhen it comes to risk taking andfinancing new investments." The Dutch ambassador describes the

Ethiopian floriculture as a very dyna-mic sector with several challenges. "Itis a sector where the growers have torespond to the market needs andwhere the taste constantly changes.You have to anticipate or even mani-pulate the market to sell more rosesfor Valentine Day for example. Whenit comes to the floriculture subsectorparticularity, it is fast growing whichmeans that the infrastructure has tobe updated i.e. transport, coolingareas in the airport, the roads etc.There Ethiopia has still a way to go."

(continued on page 3)

HORTINEWSH O L L A N D

Publisher: Uitgeverij Verhagen I Tel.:+31 71 402 2901 I Fax: +31 71 403 2325 I March 2007 I www.bloemenkrant.nl I www.hortinews.nl

Tsegaye AbebeEHPEA’s President speaks

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Area 1,2 million km2Capital city Addis AbabaPopulation 70 million Head of state Pres. Girma WoldegiorgisNational day 28 May (Downfall of the

Derg Regime in 1991)System of government Federal democratic republicNational language AmharicHighest point 4620 m (Ras Dashen)Lowest point -125 m (Danakil Depression)Climate in general cool on the high

plateau and tropical in the lowlands. Raining season from July to September

Currency Bir

Area 41.500 km2

Capital city AmsterdamPopulation 16 millionHead of state Queen BeatrixNational day 30 April (birthday

of late Queen Juliana) System of government Constitutional monarchyNational language DutchHighest point Vaalserberg 323 mLowest point Nieuwerkerk a/d IJssel -6.7 mClimate temperate maritime,

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Facts about Ethiopia and The Netherlands

(continued from page 1)

It is only the public enterprises thathave been doing this. So, attractinginvestors, both local and foreign isvery important here. This is one ofthe major areas of focus that we areputting emphasis on."

Are there any other areas that youare going to tackle in the coming 1-2years?Minister Girma: "In terms of nation-al development, this would of cour-se, be one of the areas. But I wouldlike to tell you that Ethiopia mighthave more potential in vegetablesand fruits than in flowers."

So have I heard…Minister Girma: "Exactly. The factthat we have succeeded in floricultu-re does not mean that we do nothave comparative advantage inother areas, particularly in the otherelements of the horticulture sector.That is why I say we have this emp-hasis. Our commitment to this emp-hasis goes to the extent of cuttinginto pieces the land that we have onexisting, under-managed, horticultu-re-sector-oriented state farms to begiven to private businesses. For sure,in the coming two to three years, wewill clearly show as much a differen-ce as we did on floriculture."

Most of Ethiopia's flower exports, infact, 70% goes to the Netherlands. Asthe Netherlands is one of Ethiopia'sdevelopment partners, where does thecurrent bilateral relation stand, inyour opinion?Minister Girma: "The relationshipbetween Ethiopia and the Nether-lands has been good in general forall years. Maybe on some regionaland international issues, we mighthave differences on how we seethings. This is the political and diplo-matic side of the relationship.Otherwise, on the economic andtrade relationship side, it standsamongst the most excellent rela-tionships that we have with Europe.It is not only on sending flowers thatwe trade with the Netherlands. Wealso export some other products. Solet alone 70 %, even if 100 percent ofour flower exports goes to theNetherlands, a place where the big-gest auction of flowers takes place, itis a pleasure on the Ethiopian gover-nment. If the question is in terms ofdiversifying our markets, we will seethat happen in the future. If we canexport more, we have to look into,maybe markets that would be closerto Ethiopia like the one in Dubai.Otherwise, I'm very much satisfiedwith the market relations that wehave with the Netherlands."

How do you see the future of the hor-ticulture industry in the coming fiveyears vis-a-vis neighboring-countrycompetitors such as Kenya andUganda?Minister Girma: "Maybe we have tostart from the world market as awhole. Of course, the world will nothave enough space for every growerthat would be coming in. If all deve-loping countries stared to produceflowers from any and all corners, Ido not think the market would bebig enough to absorb all products.But from the general trend, there isalways a space for those who wouldbe competitive. There cannot bemarket for every type of productthat can be produced at any cost. Sothe question should be, 'CouldEthiopia be amongst the competiti-ve ones?'"

Can Ethiopia remain competitive?Minister Girma: "Yes, for sure,Ethiopia would continue to be com-

petitive for many reasons. Otherswould not be able to have that typeof competitiveness edge evenEthiopia has. The first thing thatwould make Ethiopia very competi-tive in this area would be the cost. Ido not think there would be anyplace where flowers would be pro-duced that one could pay somethingless than USD 20 for a hectare ofland per year. You pay USD 40 (persquare meter to buy) in Europe. So,who would be able to provide thistype of service other than Ethiopia?Ethiopia would do this because landis publicly owned. Our second com-parative edge is labor cost becausethe industry is labor intensive. I donot think there is any one countryaround us that you would get laboras disciplined as ours, if not as trai-ned as ours, and who can be reason-ably cheaper in terms of cost. Thethird one is transport. Transport (tothe European markets) takes about40 percent of the total productioncost. Flowers are taken by aircraft.Ethiopian Airlines has profit makingas its priority, it also looks into thepossibilities of supporting this sec-tor. And the fourth one is the sup-port that growers get from theGovernment. The Ethiopian Go-vernment is supporting the sector onan every-day basis. So all theseadvantages combined would makeEthiopia competitive. Lastly, theremaining advantage is the country'sgeographic location. Someone fromsouthern end of Africa would notcompete with us in supplying flo-wers to Europe because the air dis-tance we travel are not one and thesame.Even our neighbour Kenya, there isan hour or two differences to reachthe same destination in Europe. Soall these added up, Ethiopia wouldcontinue to be competitive. I haveno doubt on this."

(continued from page 1)

Corporate responsibility must also bedeveloped. "For instance, the flowermarket wants to have flowers with 'agood feeling', and for that the corpo-rate responsibility has to be develo-ped. It is good to know that EHPEA isdeveloping a Code of Conduct toencourage growers develop a goodreputation. The diversification of pro-ducts must also be looked into thatEthiopia will become a floriculturebase not only for certain types of rosesbut a variety of products in order to beable to respond to the changing mar-ket demands", says Hennekens.Hennekens meets flower growersregulary. During this meetings whattranspires? "I would like to start onthe positive side. There are challen-ges. But, the main thing is that thereis a large interest in the Netherlandsto invest in the Ethiopian floriculture

subsector. They see favorable invest-ment climate, an able workforce, achance to invest and to expand. Ontop of this, there is the ideal climatecondition for growing flowers. I havenot met any investor who regrettedhis decision to come here. That is avery positive sign. There are issuesthat one has to deal with, logistics isone. There should be liberalization inthis field. There should be a logisticalsystem that enables production tomove fast into the market.

We have seen the most spectacular growth in

floriculture sector than anywhere in the world

These are some of the issues that wemention in our discussions with theGovernment."

What is your Embassy doing toencourage more investors to comehere? "That is the fulltime task of ourAgricultural Counsellor. He is wor-king everyday to identify differentareas that could attract Dutch inve-stors. But he is not alone. I am per-sonally interested as well to investiga-te certain areas to invest and brief thebusiness community. There are alsoinstruments introduced by differentDutch Ministries that reserve funds tostimulate Dutch investment inEthiopia." How effective are instruments likePSOM, PUM and CBI? "I think theyhave been very effective. These instru-ments have been used to stimulate thefirst investors to come to Ethiopia,who later served as an example toother investors to come. If one speaksabout the public intervention thatleads to more private investment thenwe see indeed successful instruments."

With a lot of investors coming here toinvest in the horticulture sector fromthe Netherlands, Israel and Ethio-pians in the diaspora, where does theambassador sees the sector in fiveyears from now? "We have seen the most spectaculargrowth in floriculture sector thananywhere in the world. And I basethis statement based on the informa-tion I get from the AgriculturalCounsellor. When we talk about interms of five years, it means that thesector will be one of the top exportproducts from Ethiopia provided, ofcourse, that government Policyremains the same as it is at themoment and provided that theGovernment allows a matured logisti-cal system. So the enabling environ-ments has to remain as favorable as itis today and bottelnecks have to beadressed. If that is the case, I am veryoptimistic."

Ethiopia continues to be competitive

‘I am very optimistic’

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

Could you brief us on the historicaldevelopment of the horticulture sec-tor in Ethiopia?"As regards the historical develop-ment of the sector in general and thefloriculture sub-sector in particular,the country is known for its poten-tial, fertile soil, abundant water,proximity to main markets, etc. Butwe have not started using this poten-tial until the last seven to eightyears.During Emperor Haile Selassie'stime there were some fruit andvegetable growers. Although theproducts were mainly consumedlocally, there were some exports.Theproblem at the time was that theinvestment was mostly controlled byeither the royal family or foreignerswho were close to the royal families.When the military regime came topower, the few production farmswere nationalized. There were someexports including summer flowers,ie. Open field flowers. But that wassubsidized export just to earnforeign currency. After the currentgovernment came to power, thingshave changed and private compa-nies were allowed to engage in thesector."

How many members does yourAssociation have?"At the moment there are sixtymembers. But this number still isgrowing."

As a pioneer in this sector what kindof challenges did you face to esta-blish the Ethiopian HorticultureProducers and Exporters Asso-ciation (EHPEA)?"One of the more serious challengeswas lack of awareness on the gover-nment's side. For instance the num-ber required to establish an associa-tion is five. But we were only three.Policy wise, again there was noattention given to the sector at thetime since nobody knew about itsadvantages. In order to get land, itwas easier for me to go directly tothe farmers and lease the land fromthem. That took over one year. Thebanks took more than 18 months togrant me loans because they werenot knowledgable about the profitthat can be drawn from flowers.Freight was also a serious problem.We used to dump flowers due tolack of transport facilities. Thesewere the main challenges that I canrecall."

How about the opportunities? "We often mention fruits, vegetablesand flowers when we talk about hor-ticulture. But horticulture also inclu-des spices, herbs, coffee, etc. Fruitsand vegetables are not yet exploitedlike flowers though practically everyregion in Ethiopia is conducive for

fruits production. In Awassa for exa-mple, there is a new farm beingdeveloped on fifty hectares of landto grow herbs. If we have a thousandhectares of herb production, I thinkwe we have enough market throug-hout the world. We export some7,000 tons of vegetables a year toEuropean markets while the poten-tial is up to 40,000 tons. Enoughattention has not been given tothese sub-sectors."

As the name of your Associationindicates, it is a horticulture associa-tion. But the focus is largely, if notsolely, on floriculture sub-sector.Why is that? What can you do aboutit?"In fact, this Association was esta-blished by vegetable growers. Yes,floriculture could be given moreattention. But that depends on theindividual grower's decision. Youjust can not tell anyone to stop pro-ducing flowers and go to fruits orvegetable production. May be wedid not do enough promotion on theother sub-sectors.The majority of the production offruits and vegetables is consumedlocally and the export to Europecould not jump the 7,000 tons figure.This year one vegetable producingcompany is joining the sub-sectorexpanding our export product. Weare also inviting foreign invesatorsto come and see the potential thecountry possess. The government isnow ready to privatise the stateowned farms. It is a matter of timebefore foreigners or more Ethio-pians are to engage in the produc-tion of fruits and vegetables. May be,the fact that it is more complicatedto grow fruits and vegetables might

not encourage investors to partici-pate in that venture. Because of theuse of agro-chemicals there aremany certifications involved. Thesedays, consumers are interested inhow the product is produced. Doesit use proper chemicals? Did youuse child labour? Are youdestroying the environment? etc. forall these, you need certification.Earlier, it used to be easy to exportto Europe. Now it is very difficultthat we even call it "Europe Gap",which has some 100 points to fulfill.Another challenge is that unlike flo-wers, fruits and vegetables takemore land. So availability of land isalso a problem. Preparing land is noteasy. Government is readying plotsof land for investors. In fact I wouldlike to say that Ethiopia is ready toentertain fruits and vegetables gro-wers. Land is now ready."

With the way things are going now,where do you see the sector in fiveyears time?"Well, the flower side is growing atalmost 200 percent. New growerscome into business while existingfarms expand.Currently, there are more than 750hectares of land under green houseand 150 hectares of land is alsounder tunnel production or openfield production. With the currentpace, may be in five years we willbecome leading growers in Africawith more than 3000 hectars underproduction. Even by end of 2007, weexpect the land developed for flo-wer production to reach between1,250 -1500 hectares. As regardsfruits and vegetables, may be in ayear or two more than 500 hectars ofland could be developed. In two to

three years it could be more than athousand hectars."In terms of employment, Ethiopiawill have more than 100,000 peopleemployed in this sector in thecoming five years. And in terms offoreign currency earnings, thecountry can get more than 500 or600 million US Dollars in thecoming five years. Between now andfive years time we expect a 100 per-cent growth of the sub-sector.

What more do you expect fromgovernment stakeholders?"Well, this is a sector where you cannot oparate alone. Whether it is asuccess or a failure so far, it has beena team work. Fortunately, we have asuccess in this sector. The ministriesyou mentioned plus the ministry ofForeign Affairs,the Oromiya region-al government and other regionalgovernments played a very positiverole in what turned out to be a suc-cess story in the floriculture sub-sec-tor."

With most of the flowers going toHolland, how do you see the bilater-al business relation? Will you also belooking for other markets?"Well, not all our exports are consu-med in Holland. They have a goodmarket network. The flowers areauctioned and go to other marketsin Japan, Russia, US, etc. Some timesthe Dutch repackage your productand re-export it. They know wellhow to make things beautiful, howto make it presentable. By the way,we have markets in Germany, theUK, and other countries but 70 per-cent of our products go to Holland.Speaking of looking for other mar-kets, market and product diversifica-

'With the current pace, maybe in five years we will become leading growers in Africa'

Tsegaye Abebe is chairman of theEthiopian Horticulture Produ-cers and Exporters Association(EHPEA). The association is a non-profit making organization esta-blished by its members with theobjective of organizing those activein the sector to lobby the gover-nment in different ways to solve theproblems of members and the sec-tor in general. It also has the objec-tive of building the capacities of itsmembers. It represents the horti-culture sector in the country aswell as internationally and it alsoorganizes trade fairs like Horti-flora Ethiopia wich will take placefrom March 21-23, 2007 for thesecond time in the country.

EHPEA • 5EHPEA's President speaks to Holland Hortinews

tion is something which you have totake as your core marketing strate-gy. Diversifying your market andproduct will help you avoid shocksin case anything happens.

With Ethiopia now becoming one ofthe key players in flower production,what should it do to keep abreast ofothers in the region? As you mayknow, potential competitors are notexpected to seat idle? "It is a good question. Kenya, for in-stance, is currently the leadingcountry in terms of flower produc-tion. It also exports diversified pro-ducts of fruits and vegetables. But donot expect that or other countries inthe region to remain the same. Theyare already changing policies. Theinvestor is always looking for a bet-ter service and better profit.Whenever there is a better chance inEthiopia, they fly in and invest.Sentiment does not work here.At the moment, Ethiopia's policiesand incentives are good. In Ethiopia,one is secured any time. There is saf-ety. Here, you do not need to buyland and tie up your money to it.You can lease the land and use thatmoney to invest in production.Ethiopia has proximity to Europe interms of market. Labour cost is che-aper than many around. The weat-her is ideal for horticulture business.We do not pay for water. We canbore holes and extract the water forirrigation. Finance is also anotherfactor why investors come here. Youcan get loans from banks upto 70percent of what the project takeswithout any collateral. We also havefive years for tax holidays. I am freefrom paying any income tax for fiveyears. Capital goods for projects arealso free of import duty taxes. So thisis really what makes staying andinvesting in Ethiopia advantageous.I am sure government will remaincommitted in keeping its policiesand incentives competitive."

How do you evaluate EHPEA'scooperation with the Dutch Em-bassy here?Tsegaye: "Well, cooperation withthe Dutch Embassy here is rightlygratifying and exemplary in manyways. Since May 2003, immediatelyafter the visit of the first DutchTrade and Investment Mission forEthiopia, our cooperation hasexpanded to its present level wherewe are now jointly working on theformulation and implementation ofthe Ethiopia-Netherlands Horticul-ture Partnership Programme. TheHorticulture Development Strategystudy, fully sponsored by theEmbassy and now in its final stage,to serve as a blue print for futuredevelopment of the sector, is also amajor contribution of the Embassyto the sector and the Association.Our Association in particular has inmany ways benefited from Em-bassy's collaboration. Under thePartnership several initiatives havetaken place benefiting members ofthe Association and other stake hol-ders as well. Worth mentioning inthis regard are the training program-me for the staff members of the hor-ticulture sector, preparation of aCode of Practice for the floriculturesubsector, capacity building on phy-tosanitary standards and systems arebut few. Equally important coopera-tion that benefited our Associationand other stake holders is DutchEmbassy's sponsored visit program-mes are immense and very helpful tostrengthen our Association's capaci-ty to serve up expectations."

Mr. Tsegaye Abebe, chairman of the Ethiopian Horticulture Producers and Exporters Association (EHPEA).

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

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Is the agricultural sector in Ethiopiaso important that a separate DutchBureau of Agriculture is necessary?"Agriculture is extremely importantfor Ethiopia. More than 80% of thepopulation work in this sector,which generates 45% of all income.The huge importance of agricultureto development and - more specifi-cally - the rapid rise of floriculture,were behind the decision by theDutch Ministry of AgricultureNature Management and FoodQuality to open an office there.One of its primary tasks is to stimu-late and facilitate trade betweenEthiopian and Dutch businesseswith the achievement of a long las-ting win-win relationship as themost important goal. I also put agreat deal of effort into improvingrelations with regard to nature con-servation. Other tasks includeimproving cooperation in the fieldsof research and education. It goeswithout saying that all my activitiesare subject to good collaborationwith my colleagues at the embassy.In support of horticultural develop-ment we have set up the Ethiopian-Netherlands-Horticulture Partner-ship in collaboration with public andprivate bodies in Ethiopia. The mainfocus of the partnership lies instrengthening the enabling environ-ment with the goal of achieving arobust, market driven competitivesector that excels in sustainable pro-duction. I have no figures withwhich to back this up, but in my opi-nion there is nowhere else in theworld where horticulture has expan-ded so fast and so strongly. All theparties exhibit huge commitmentwhen it comes to continuing andexpanding this rapid growth bysound and balanced means. Productdiversification is an importantaspect of this, certainly when itcomes to developing the fruit andvegetable sector. I am delighted withthe opportunities that Ethiopiaoffers. Development to date hasbeen astounding."

What motivated your wish to becomethe agricultural attaché to Ethiopia?"I used to work in the Trade andIndustry division of the Ministry ofAgriculture, Nature Managementand Food Quality and it was fromthere that I applied for the positionof agricultural counseller. Now thatour four children are able to standon their own feet my wife and I feltwe wanted to work internationallyagain. I am delighted that I havebeen given this opportunity to opena new Bureau of Agriculture and Ilike living in Ethiopia. I have beenhere since 15 March 2006 and mywife since the beginning of January.She is also enjoying life here."

How big is the proportion of Dutchpeople in Ethiopian horticulture?"In addition to Ethiopian entrepre-

neurs businesses from Israel, India,Germany, France, America and theNetherlands are active in Ethiopianhorticulture. If we include suppliers,there are currently 22 Dutch busi-nesses operating here. These busi-nesses are active in the fields of pro-duction, propagation, engineeringand supply. Although they benefitfrom the good environmental condi-tions here, I am proud that theyhave shown the courage needed tostart up business in this country.Without wishing to exaggerate, I feelthat they are making a very impor-tant and valuable contribution tothe development of what is after alla new sector for Ethiopia."

What is the secret behind the rapiddevelopment of horticulture inEthiopia? "There are many factors that havecontributed to this success. First ofall Ethiopia has climate conditionsthat are favourable to horticulture.Another important factor in thissuccess is the excellent investmentclimate. The country also has theadvantage of being closer to its mar-kets than other African countries.Ethiopian Airlines quickly managedto organise the transport system.Thanks to the low thresholds pre-sented by the Dutch auctions it wasrelatively easy to sell products fromthe start. Relations between the pri-vate and government sectors arealso good.This is something we are also fami-liar with in the Netherlands. This iswhy the partnership between thetwo countries also works well. Thecommitment on the side of thegovernment is illustrated by the factthat the Minister for Trade andIndustry takes time to visit newcompanies every three months. Alsouseful is the openness between thevarious entrepreneurs. They arehappy to exchange knowledge andvisit one another's business premi-

ses. Things here are similar to theNetherlands."

What concrete support does theNetherlands provide in the context ofthis partnership?"When I arrived here I immediatelygot together with the EthiopianHorticulture Producers andExporters Association (EHPEA),the Ministry of Trade and Industryand the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development. Together wechecked out what was needed to getthe sector prepared to head into thefuture.This quickly became obvious:important items in the plan of actionare the code of conduct, training,improvement of the plant healthservice and the introduction of inte-grated pest management. We havemade good progress on all thesefronts. Other subjects include thedevelopment of the fruit and vegeta-ble sector, the establishment of adecision support system for seekingand selecting new production areasand the development of a marketinformation system. We adjust ourannual agenda on the basis of theprogress made and the experiencegained in the previous year.Strengthening the horticultural sec-tor is high on our 'rolling agenda'.More information on our variouspartnership projects can be foundon page ...."

What are the challenges facing horticulture in Ethiopia today?"When Ethiopia started to developits horticulture it aimed to learnfrom the faults of others. This is agood approach. When I look to thefuture I can see a number of hugechallenges facing this beautifulcountry. These include improvinglogistics and quality and communi-cations systems. These are essentialfor coping with the fast growingvolumes as well as for dealing withthe move from being purely a pro-

duction site to becoming a serviceprovider. In this context we need tolook at getting products ready to hitthe shelves, be it as bouquets or inother forms."

Do you anticipate that more Dutchfirms will want to start up businessesin Ethiopia?"In view of the good opportunitiesand good past experiences I expectmore companies to follow soon.Certainly if the infrastructure andsupport services continue to beimproved. In order to make thingseasier for foreign investors, ourbureau of agriculture has collabora-ted with the Ethiopian governmentand EHPEA to publish an invest-ment guide. Let me just say this: thefact that 34 Dutch firms participatedin the Hortiflora in Addis, indicatesthat there is more than a little Dutchinterest in Ethiopia and that Dutchfirms are keen to do business here."

Several firms receive a PSOM-grant,a subsidy from the Dutch gover-nment. When does a firm qualify for aPSOM-grant?"A number of the first Dutch com-panies to settle in Ethiopia linkedup with an Ethiopian partner andbenefited from PSOM. The purposeof this grant is to offset some of theentrepreneurial risks involved in theintroduction of new techniques orstarting up production for new mar-kets. PSOM is still available for hor-ticulture and other commercial acti-vities but starting up a rose nurseryin Ethiopia is no longer consideredto be innovative. New activities thatare subject to entrepreneurial riskare what are needed. PSOM hasmost certainly contributed to theemergence of Ethiopian horticultu-re and in the future will continue tobe an instrument that can play animportant part in the continuedexpansion and innovation of thissuccessful sector."

'Nowhere else has horticulture made such rapid progress'

Geert Westenbrink, Dutch agricultural counseller in Addis Ababa

Geert Westenbrink: ”Nowhere else has horticulture made such rapid progress as in Ethiopia.”

In February Geert Westenbrinkis on a visit to the Dutch Ministryof Agriculture. Since March 2006he has worked as the agriculturalcounseller to the Dutch Embassyin Addis Ababa. We asked himhow he was enjoying Ethiopiaand about the role of theNetherlands in the developmentof agriculture in Ethiopia.

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

PSOMThe financial support is providedthrough the Programme for Co-operation with Emerging Mar-kets (PSOM). This programmeaims at supporting private sectordevelopment by promoting andsupporting economic coopera-tion between the business sectorsof Ethiopia and the Netherlandson the basis of equal partnershipand mutual benefit with a focuson private investments. The pro-gramme is open to projects in alleconomic sectors. To qualify, theprojects should aim at introdu-cing a new, but elsewhere proventechnology, stimulate the transferof knowledge, and have a positiveimpact on employment and inco-me generation. The project pro-posal should demonstrate thecommercial viability and theneed for funding through PSOM.The funding available underPSOM in Ethiopia is a grant of60% of the total project costs.The total costs of the project canbe maximum EUR 825,000 .

Example projectsIn general, companies that bene-fit from PSOM are mostly smalland medium sized enterprises. Inmost countries, especially in theagricultural sector, numeroussuccessful projects have beenestablished. However, alsoPSOM-projects in the industry,transport, environment and tou-rism sector have proven to besuccessful. The projects have asignificant positive effect onemployment, transfer of know-ledge, income-generation andpoverty reduction. The positivespin-off effects are consideredsubstantial and follow-up invest-ments are expected.

ProcedureApplying for PSOM consists ofonly one phase, the qualificationphase, during which the finalresponsibility lays with EVD. Thequalification round, in which acomplete project proposal (inclu-ding a project and business planand all the necessary annexes)has to be submitted, ends on 22 August 2007. The tender docu-ments required for this phase andincluding the obligatory formatfor the project proposal are avai-lable at www.evd.nl/psom. Beforethe deadline of 22 August 2007the original proposal includingrequired annexes has to be recei-ved by EVD,The Netherlands.Atthe end of the qualification rounda final decision on PSOM-fun-ding will be taken and contractsawarded.Information: www.evd.nl/psom Project officer: Michel Ridder(ridder@evd.nl or psom@info.evd.nl)

New fundsavailable Companies in emerging markets,who want to set up a small-scalepilot investment in Ethiopiashould consider to look for Dutchcompanies to set-up a joint ventu-re. Consortia consisting of at leastone company based in theNetherlands and one Ethiopiancompany can apply for financialsupport from the Dutch Go-vernment for 60% of the totalproject costs.

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BOBBYBEANS • 9

The concern is active in a number ofcountries, growing bobbybeans,string beans, peas, Brussels sproutsand leeks. Bobbybeans, grown in theNetherlands, are by far the firm'smost important crop. The 1,000 hec-tares of beans growing in the parentcountry are harvested in July,August and September. Picking isdone mechanically and delivery tothe customers is simple and carriedout by our own staff. In the lateEighties and early Nineties VanOers expanded production toFrance and Spain in order to extendthe season. In 2002 the companyfrom Brabant crossed the water toMorocco, since when the Europeanconsumer can eat bobbybeans atany time of the year. This has cer-tainly been the case since Van Oersstarted cooperation with companiesin Egypt and in Ethiopia."However", says account managerfor East Africa Peter van der Starre,"the period from December to theend of April remains difficult.

Weather conditions in Egypt andMorocco are not ideal. If you wantto supply the same quality as in theother months of the year, Ethiopia isthe place to be. The weather there ismore consistent."

Ethio-VegfruIn previous years Van Oers grewbeans in Ethiopia in collaborationwith state owned enterprises. Thisyear they started operating theirown company, Ethio-Vegfru. VanOers has set the company uptogether with an Ethiopian partner,Tsegaye Abebe. Van der Starre con-siders it imperative for a Europeancompany to work with a local part-ner. "Together it is possible to achie-ve something new and we are reallyhappy with that. Tsegaye knows theropes, maintains good relations withthe ministry and can open doors forus there. The task that weWesterners have is to provide tech-nical know-how about seeds, cropprotection, Eurep-GAP and otherquality demands and techniques."The provision of know-how is veryimportant. For example, everyEuropean country has differentregulations concerning the useand/or prohibition of chemical pesti-cides. This means that extra vigilan-ce is essential if the beans are to beeligible for export everywhere. Vander Starre: "Thanks to the help ofour Ethiopian contacts we are wellahead of the game. We are involvedin close consultation to ensure theadmission of agents, which areacceptable throughout Europe. Partof our cooperation involves keepingone another informed of what ishappening and shoring up mutualconfidence."

Everything in one handHaving its own farm in Ethiopiaprovides the Dutch company with anumber of advantages. "When youhold all the reins, it is easier tosteer", says Van der Starre, referringto cultivation, grading, treatment,processing, packaging and logistics.We use the same seeds and packa-ging in all our production regionsand make the same demands onfood safety. There is no way the con-sumer can tell where the beanscome from."This is not strictly true. TheEthiopian beans are arranged inneat straight lines in their boxes. Insummer straight and curved beansare jumbled up together to the ama-zement of the Ethiopians who visi-ted the Dutch company. Van derStarre: "In the winter months bob-bybeans are an exclusive vegetablefor Europeans and they pay morefor them than for beans from theirown latitudes. Consequently theyexpect better quality, colour andpresentation. This latter is not a pro-blem because the beans from Africaare hand picked rather than mecha-nically picked as is the case in theNetherlands, France and Spain."If export quality is to be supplied,the plants must receive the rightquantities of water, fertiliser andpesticides."We leave the curved beansbehind", says Van der Starre. "Theyare for the local market, for animalfodder and, possibly even for com-posting." Whereas Ethiopians aresurprised by the trade in curvedbeans, the Dutch are amazed to findthat Ethiopians eat so few vegeta-bles. Many people in theNetherlands are convinced that they

need to eat at least 200 g of vegeta-bles every day to stay healthy.

Economic progressVan Oers are considering doublingthe forty hectares currently in use atsome time in the future. The ware-house is already based on a largercultivation area and there is nodoubt about the fact that there areplenty of opportunities to sell morebeans - as long as they meet thequality specifications set by super-markets. These specifications invol-ve guaranteed food safety and punc-tual delivery of the agreed quanti-ties of beans."In Ethiopia people still have tobecome aware of the links in the dis-tribution chain. On our side of theworld, we are used to planning andthinking ahead.Agreements are there to be adheredto and supermarkets need to be ableto rely on suppliers. If a problemoccurs it has to be solved the sameday." Europeans are far less patient thanAfricans. Van der Starre has knownEthiopia for some fifteen years andis still amazed at the speed at whichthe economy has progressed."Demand from the European mar-kets has been well received but thegrowth also owes much to policy. Agreat deal of effort is being put intothe expansion of the airport and thedevelopment of the infrastructure.Who could have anticipated that itwould happen so quickly? A greatdeal has already happened here.Yellow zucchini, strawberries, roses,Geranium and Chrysanthemum cut-tings. It is all going on and whoknows what developments we canexpect in the next five years?"

HEERLE - Bobbybeans from thefarms of Van Oers are on sale inEuropean shops all year round.Last winter the first beans came onto the market from the firm's ownproduction unit in Ethiopia. Inaddition to the production sites inEthiopia and the Netherlands, thecompany already had branches inFrance, Spain and Morocco.According to the account managerfor East Africa, Peter van derStarre, Van Oers is first and fore-most a grower rather than a traderor exporter. "That is how it hasalways been and it is what hasmade us successful."

'We have come a long way thanksto the help of the Ethiopians'

Van Oers can supply bobbybeans of consistent quality all year roundProduct innovationCurrently Ethio-Vegfru growsbobbybeans on 40 hectares.One of the problems facingthe grower is that the yearround production of bobbybe-ans in Ethiopia is not profita-ble. In the summer months thehigh cost of transport makes itdifficult to compete with otherproducing countries. Currentlyonions and maize are grownfor the local markets duringthose months. The plan for thefuture is to plant other exportvegetables. A test is plannedusing Brussels sprouts andpeas as an alternative. Theseproducts are very labourintensive and prohibitivelyexpensive to grow in theNetherlands because of thelabour costs involved.Potatoes, garlic and mangoscould also be products thatcould help year round produc-tion to succeed at Van OersEthiopian facility.

WaterAccording to Van der Starrefrugality is crucial if problemswith water are to be avoidedin the future. "This is also achapter in the Eurep Gap-pro-tocol. Watering is done bymeans of a drip system andthis has the additional advan-tage of permitting fertiliser tobe added along with the water.This makes fertilising moreefficient. The water is suppliedfrom Lake Koka via a 2,200 mlong pipeline. The water ispurified at the production faci-lity and pumped to the irriga-tion system. It was not possi-ble to tap into an undergroundwater source because of thegreat depth at which water ispresent, the high temperaturesand the high salt content.

PackagingVan Oers imports its ownwater resistant cardboardboxes to package the beans.The boxes are transported bysea in containers via Djiboutias flat packs. On site a specialboxerecting machine is usedto punch and assemble them."These water resistant card-board boxes are strongenough to stand on", says Vander Starre with pride.

Out-growersVan Oers collaborates withsome 15 smallholders in thevicinity of the production faci-lity. Van der Starre: "We wantto involve the local populationin our work but a great deal ofsupport is needed to teachthese people how best to ferti-lise and protect the crops. It isnot easy to comply with theEuropean regulations gover-ning quality and food safety." In a bid to provide support forthe local population, VanOers' Ethiopian partner hascooperated in a number ofprojects, which include impro-ving drinking water and set-ting up a library.

Nature conservancyThe farm is fenced with bar-bed wire and a natural corrid-or has been created to allowthe wildlife, including hyenasand wild boar, to have accessto the lake.

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

How did Kolster develop such a uni-que hypericum product? Kolsterstarted hypericum breeding in the1980s and were probably the first tointroduce hypericum on the Dutchflower auctions. Since that timeKolster has sold hypericum varietiesin 55 countries around the worldbased on royalty agreements.Ecuador has 30-40 hectares of hype-ricum production now, and they areexporting mainly to Japan and theUSA though a little bit goes toEurope. Recently Kolster, realizingthat Ethiopia would be ideal for theproduction of this product, took abig step and for the first time inves-ted his own money abroad. Thecountry chosen was Ethiopia.“We were looking for a high-altitu-de farm close to the equator wherewe could speed up our hypericumbreeding,” says Peter Kolster. "Mysearch for the perfect farm coinci-ded with the decision of my threeIsraeli partners to start a farm inEthiopia. We are now four equalpartners."

The names of the Israelian partnersare: Daniel Ben-Tora (presentGeneral Manager of the farm),Yoram Lev Tov and Daniel Hassi-doff.“We thought the Ethiopian cli-mate would be ideal for producinggood quality hypericum with brightcolors. We chose a farm at 2600meters, in Sendaffa, 40 km north ofAddis. We leased 40 hectares fromthe government next to an existing

hypericum farm. There we put in 10hectares of hypericum in 4 differentvarieties of our Magical series. Thenfor diversification we added 6 hecta-res of carnations. We saved one hec-tare for hypericum breeding andmotherplants and here you can findhundreds of other varieties. Fromthe motherplants cuttings can bedelivered to other farms in Ethiopia.The remaining 3 covered hectaresare for the farm buildings and offi-ces."The second phase at this location isalso 20 hectares, (Ethiopian Bree-

ding Farm). "We applied for aPSOM subsidy for this farm (thoughnot for the original Magical Farm),but as we did not get this financingsubsidy this second farm is stillempty", explains Peter Kolster.“From our experience, hypericum isthe product that is the most profita-ble, without a doubt. We expect thatthe hypericum breeding that we areable to do in Ethiopia will be also

interesting for the highlandsof in Ecuador, Zimbabwe andKenya. But our primary goal,now that we have proven thegreat success of production ofthe product in Ethiopia, is tosell hypericum cuttings toother Ethiopian growers. Wewant to give them first choiceof the product bred undertheir conditions. Of ourMagical hypericum series,Magical Red is most soughtafter colour and we export ityear-around to the auctions,but it is important to have thefull colour range, and we havea colour range that goes fromwhite to black. The onlycolour we do not have is bluehypericum, and that will pro-bably not be available for a

long time. All of these hypericum inthe Magical series are very popularin the world." “Ethiopia is one of the nicest coun-tries in the world,” says Peter Hol-zer. “The people are helpful, friend-ly and there is almost no criminality.The altitude of the production areasprovides big opportunities for gro-wing quality-products of the Magi-cal range. The future for qualityHypericum production in the worldwill be for Ecuador to supply theUSA market and for Ethiopia tosupply the European markets.”

'Ethiopia is one of the nicest countries in the world'Peter Kolster, breeder of Hypericum:

Peter Kolster is a reknown Dutchbreeder of hypericum and producerof starter material for the ornamen-tal foliage cultivation sector. Themain office of the Kolster company islocated in Boskoop, The Nether-lands. Their line of hypericum, car-rying the “Magical” trademark, isworld famous. The Magical hyperi-cum can be grown as sprays inEthiopia, and this is a product ingreat demand on the Dutch auctions.The price is currently € 0.40 per 80cm stem of sprays, whereas single-stem hypericum sells for only € 0.20per stem or less.

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MARANQUE PLANTS • 11

Maranque Plants is located 160 kmsoutheast of Addis in a dry area,chosen precisely because it offersexcellent conditions for growingchrysanthemum cuttings. Ethiopiaoffered a good alternative to Kenyaand much lower costs than inEurope. The farm is on 30 hectaresof land leased from the governmentand is currently at 7 ha of greenhou-se and 2 hectares of seed propaga-tion. It will have 13 hectares in pro-duction by 2009. Marc Driessen hasapplied to lease 100 additional hec-tares for planting trees. The refores-tation project will provide organicmaterial for the farm. The probabi-lity of getting the lease approvedlooks good, even though currentlytwo 55-hectare sections are undercontract, but those neighbouringfarmers have not started building orplanting on the land for the pastfour years and the governmentfrowns on those who lease just tospeculate on the property value ofthe lease.

Solid partnershipWhen Maranque Plants was startedin 2004 there were only 5 to10 flori-culture companies in Ethiopia.Dümmen had just started beforethey arrived. Marc Driessen saysthat the investment climate inEthiopia has improved considerably,as EHPEA (the Ethiopian Horti-culture Producing and ExportingAssociation), which was just in thestart-up phase at the time, has madeenormous progress in dealing withgrower problems and solving themjointly. Many of the initial problemshave been worked out now."Cooperation with Ethiopians wasat first difficult, but once you havereached a partnership, it is a verysolid one," says Mr. Driessen."In the last three years there havebeen many changes in Ethiopia. Inparticular, visiting the governmentalinstitutions to get things arrangedhas become much easier. At manyplaces you are welcomed instead ofsearching for the right door. A goodexample is the Federal InvestmentAuthority, which today is very open

and very interested in getting invest-ment in the country. Procedureshave been shortened and mademore clear and are in English. Thepersonnel there see it as their obli-gation to serve the customer andthat is a big change. The Ethiopianauthorities are really listening to thegrowers. In December 2005 therewas a meeting with the PrimeMinister at which all the growerswhere asked to attend. This resultedin a charter cargo plane at the peakperiod of production."

Overwhelming natural beauty of thecountrysideEthiopia has a climate that is veryconducive to good flower projects.Besides that Mr. Driessen considersEthiopia a very nice place to live."Compared to other African coun-tries there is almost no criminality.Even in Addis Ababa you can go atnight without any problem. Mychildren are at Sanford school (anEnglish international school) wherethey have to attend every day of theworking week. The farm is 2,5 hoursdrive so most of the time my wifedrives to the farm on Friday after-noon and the family spends theweekend on the farm. This is very

nice. We watch the beautiful sunsetsevery evening. Once out of Addisthe nature is overwhelming andevery time you drive to the farm thescenery is new or changing. Privatelywe have more rest in our personallives. In Holland we had to plan ouragendas to coordinate with that offamily or friends. Here we just calleach other and meet."

Almost comparable to EcuadorianqualityOne problem that remains inEthiopia is getting easy and efficientinternational communications butMr. Driessen notes, "we have beengreatly helped by the Minister ofTrade and Industry. We now havesix phone lines at the farm. Theconnections to Internet are prettygood at 6kbs in the daytime andeven faster downloading at 25kbs isavailable in the evening. This is veryimportant in an ever-changing worldmarket and being able to serve ourcustomers’ demands. I can even readthe Dutch newspapers in the mor-ning," Marc Driessen says, withobvious satisfaction.Why is Ethiopia so popular amongstDutch entrepreneurs? "First of all Ihear from a lot of Dutch growerssaying that the quality of the flowersgrown in Ethiopia can be much bet-ter than in other similar countries.Clients particularly notice thecolour intensity of the flowers.Quality is in fact getting close to thatof South America. There is a possi-bility to grow flowers at many diffe-rent altitudes in Ethiopia so, giventhe many different microclimates,there are many different kinds offlowers found here. Water, labourand other infrastructure is availableand the country is really develo-ping."

Training instituteAt Maranque Plants, some of the500 employees are transported tothe farm each morning in four buses."All of the training is on the job.Theskills needed in a propagation com-pany like ours are high. Our custo-mer in Holland expects us to be able

to produce the quality of cuttingsproduced in Kenya and in Uganda,which have been operating for sevenyears. For that reason I havebrought in one more Dutchman,bringing the number of my compa-triots here at the farm to four. Thislast man dedicates himself just topropagating and his main job will betrain the staff in doing this.Eventually we hope that there willbe a proper training institute for thehorticulture sector."

Open discussionMost of the problems that we havehad at Maranque Plants PLC werecommon to those of other compa-nies. With help of the EHPEA lotsof problems have been solved or arebeing solved. The Ministry of Tradeand Industry is paying a visit to allthe farms on yearly or half yearlybasis. He listens very carefully to getall problems listed and then tries togive assistance in solving the majorchallenges of the start-up horticul-tural sector. "The Minister of Tradeand Industry, Mr. Girma Biru, visi-ted our farm in his half year regularvisit at the beginning of January. Hespent one full hour inside the com-pany and during this visit he asked a

lot of questions about how and whatwe where doing. Accompanying theMinister were many representativesof different Ministries and othergovernment bodies. They were thereto see what our problems were withtheir specific institutions and theywere there also to see where theycould improve their relationshipwith us. After the tour of the farmthe Minister and his people had teain our canteen and we thoroughlydiscussed many subjects related tohorticulture and also some issuesrelated only to Maranque Plants.This was a very open discussion,which I would have thought impos-sible in the first weeks that I was inEthiopia. In this discussion BoardMembers of the EPHEA also joinedus and this helped to get thingsclear.After this visit the Minister went tothe next farm where he also spent alot of time. The Minister of Tradeand Industry has told us that theGovernment is preparing an addi-tional 1000 ha of land near AddisAbaba for Horticulture."Meanwhile, Maranque Plants shipsout one thousand boxes of chrysant-hemum cuttings and other plants tothe Beekenkamp group in theNetherlands. The operation is notonly successful, but an inspiration toother farms and other would-beforeign investors.

Maranque Plants Plc is anEthiopian company dedicated topropagating chrysanthemumcuttings for Deliflor and youngplants material for BeekenkampPlants in Holland. MaranquePlants PLC is a joint venture ofthe Beekenkamp group andMarc Driessen, the generalmanager, who moved from theNetherlands to live in Ethiopiawith his wife and two-teenagedchildren.

'We have been helped a great deal'Marc Driessen, manager Maranque Plants:

Marc Driessen (left), Alphons Hennekens (middle) and Peter Persoon(right) during the opening ceremony of Maranque Plants.

Maranque Plants Plc is an Ethiopian company dedicated to propagatingchrysanthemum cuttings for Deliflor and young plants material forBeekenkamp Plants in Holland

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

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FLORENSIS • 13

The reason why Florensis built a farm in Ethiopiawas based on a need to spread the risk and toexpand the production area. The firm was unableto add any more greenhouses in Kenya.Generally speaking unrooted cuttings are grownin Africa for a wide range of garden plants and itis specifically for this type of cultivation thatEthiopia has a climatological advantage overKenya. "And we are assuming that some productswill be easier to grow in a climate that is just thatlittle bit different.The climate is slightly more sta-ble and this can be an advantage, especially forperennials."

Contact partners via the embassyFlorensis Ethiopia was founded by Florensis andits Ethiopian partner. Thomas Matanovich andhis wife run a travel agency. Contact with themwas facilitated through the Dutch embassy.Florensis was keen to grow plants in Ethiopia buthad no knowledge of the country. Matanovichwas looking to invest in branches outside theworld of travel and was interested in horticulture.There were thus good reasons for the parties towork together. "In the early stages it is particu-larly important to have a partner who knows thecountry", says Léon Duijnisveld, ProductionDirector at Florensis. "Matanovich has contactsand knows all the official paths." The constructionof the farm was preceded by a 2 to 3 year periodof orientation and a great deal of paperwork andlobbying.Duijnisveld visits Ethiopia twice a year on avera-ge and holds a telephone meeting with themanagers of Florensis Ethiopia once a fortnightto discuss business.Anker supports the horticultural engineering sideof the production process in Ethiopia. His con-tacts with Florensis Ethiopia are more intensive.He travels there about five times a year and hasweekly telephone contact with the productionfacility. "Most questions are fired at me over theInternet. If anything goes wrong in theNetherlands you simply make a phone call andwithin three quarters of an hour there is someoneat the door. Ethiopia is another world. If anythingunforeseen happens there you have to fix it your-self."

Great human resources potential"Ethiopia is a developing country", saysDuijnisveld. "Horticulture is still in its infancythere, although things are headed in the rightdirection. For example, we are very pleased withthe refrigerated freight handling facility that hasbeen open for six months and which allows us tocondition the products more effectively at the air-port."

Logistics, transportation and transport to theNetherlands are very time consuming. Two Dutchmanagers work at the plant, Ronald Vijverbergand Aswin Endeman. They are knowledgeableabout cultivation techniques and logistics. Ankerand Duijnisveld are genuinely pleased with thelocal staff. It was not difficult to train people forhorticulture. Duijnisveld: "The people are coope-rative and well intentioned. They have a goodmentality. There is great human resources poten-tial in terms of people with an agricultural backg-round, although it is more general than what weare accustomed to in the Netherlands. In theNetherlands we have specific vocational trainingfor jobs in horticulture."

At peak times Florensis Ethiopia employs around300 people. The employees live within a radius of20 to 30 km of the nursery. The company hasorganised bus transport with various stoppingpoints. Together with other horticultural busines-ses the employers around this part of Lake Koka,provide jobs for some 3000 people.

The villages in the surrounding area are growingas a result of the growth in horticulture."However, in view of the size of the population ofEthiopia this can never be a problem", isDuijnisveld's opinion.

Florensis propagates a wide range of cuttings ofannual and perennial garden plants andPelargoniums. The young plants are supplied togrowers in the Netherlands, Germany, England,France, Italy and other European countries wherethe plants are grown on. Florensis has productionfacilities in the Netherlands, Germany, Kenya andEthiopia

Further expansion of Florensis Ethiopia depends on the garden plant market

The Dutch branch of Florensis is one of the leading propagators with an extensiveassortment of border annuals and biannuals. The company's operations are largelymechanised and automated. Cuttings from various countries are grown on to becomeyoung plants. After about four weeks they are sold on to growers who grow them onto produce the flowering end product. Construction started on Florensis Ethiopia inJuly 2005. In the meantime the cuttings nursery is in full production and Jaap Anker,the coordinating manager for Africa, has to think long and hard to remember exact-ly when production commenced. "Last year we started with 15,000 m2 of test pro-duction. A further 22,000 m2 were added immediately and the plans for furtherexpansion this year are already prepared." The farm will then have 6 hectares ofgreenhouses. Whether or not the production facility will be expanded even furtherdepends on how sales of garden plants grown from cuttings develop.

The Programma Samenwerking Opko-mende Markten (PSOM) [EmergingMarkets Cooperation Programme] of-fers financial support to businesses withplans for investment in emerging mar-kets in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia andLatin America.The programme supportspilot investments by Dutch companieswhich will be working with a local com-pany in one of the countries concerned.Florensis Ethiopia took advantage of thePSOM scheme as the first producer ofperennials cuttings in Ethiopia. Theyencountered many uncertainties. LéonDuijnisveld says: “We didn’t know whatobstacles we would come up against:

perhaps as a result of a lack of awarenessof local laws, when applying for variouslicences, unfamiliarity with effects of theclimate on plant growth, uncertaintyabout finding sufficient qualified localstaff, and so on. With PSOM we laun-ched a pilot covering 15,000 metres. Thepilot would determine whether theexpansion plans would go ahead. But thepilot phase and the test production weresuccessful, so we implemented theexpansion immediately afterwards.PSOM removed some of the financialrisks and helped us to make a start inEthiopia.”

Florensis Ethiopia does not cultivatedirectly in the soil.The parent plants arein planted in bags filled with Red Ashand are watered and fertilised via a dripsystem. The water ispumped up from anunderground river.In the Netherlandsan artificial substra-te of rockwoolwould be used."The Red Ash issimply dug up local-ly and sieved. It isclean. We have noproblems withweeds and Red Ashhas a good air towater ratio", saysAnker. In Kenya hehad experience witha similar substrate, i.e. pumice.At the end of every season the parentplants are cleared out and new plantsare set in bags of clean Red Ash.Soil disinfection using methyl bromide

is not an option. The use of this substan-ce is prohibited in the Netherlands. TheNetherlands has strict legislation gover-ning the use of pesticides in a bid to pre-

vent problems with health and the envi-ronment. Duijnisveld: "We apply exact-ly the same rules here. We do not usemethylene in Ethiopia for ethical reas-ons."

PSOM offers opportunities for businesses

Good water for irrigation with a borehole and reverse osmosis

Red Ash is easy to disinfect

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

Florensis Ethiopia gets its waterfrom a borehole 50 to 60 m deep.This depth ensures that the water is100% disease free, a huge advanta-ge for floriculture. In addition theborehole makes the nursery muchless dependent on water from theriver. The water comes up out ofthe ground at a temperature ofsome 50°C and is cooled off to30°C by means of a heat exchanger.It is subsequently directed along anosmosis system. In this system thewater is pushed through membra-nes at high pressure.The salts in thewater are removed and the purifiedwater is directed via distributionpipes to the drip system used forthe parent plants.

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Van der Hulst has worked for flowergrowers, the TFA import flower auc-tion and in research. This is wherehis knowledge of cultivation, tradeand the effects of quality on pricecomes from. He travelled to Africamany times. Jeroen established abusiness in 2004: FlowerWatchQuality and Coolchain Manage-ment. Currently he and three otherpeople are engaged in improving thequality of African flowers. It is oftendifficult for African growers to meetEuropean quality requirements.There are huge differences betweenEurope and Africa. African flowerfarms easily cover 10 to 20 hectares.Horticulture in the Netherlands ison a much smaller scale. Many rosenurseries are only 1 to 2 hectares insize and only the really big ones cancover 4 to 10 hectares.An even moreimportant difference according toVan der Hulst is the fact that Africahas no flower growing culture andthis makes it difficult to gauge whatquality demands are likely to bemade on flowers.Often when a shipment of beautiful

flowers from Africa arrives in theNetherlands, it has lost a lot of itsgood looks along the way. The ship-ment is inspected at the auction, theprice for the flowers drops and thegrower suffers a considerable loss.Van der Hulst and his staff inspectthe shipments when they arrive atthe auctions. They photograph themand report on the appearance of theflowers following transport andwhat has gone wrong. They thenprovide advice on how to avoidthese problems in future.The support is effective. "Farms can

prevent many mistakes with the aidof inspections and feedback. Thebest result we have booked so farhas been that a number of growershave made the transition from daytrader to annual contractor. Thisprovides them with more incomeand more security", says Van derHulst. In the direct market growersno longer take the flowers to the flo-wer auctions where they are depen-dent on the day prices they canachieve under the clock. They oftensupply directly to retail chains andagree prices and quantities before-

hand. "However, this also meansthat they can find themselves facinga claim if it turns out afterwards thatsomething went wrong", says Vander Hulst. The grower is not on thespot and it is useful if an indepen-dent quality inspector is on hand todetermine what is going on. "Hesees plenty of opportunities for hiscompany. "It makes no difference ifthe flowers on display in the super-market are from Africa or theNetherlands. It would be fantastichowever, if every bunch of flowersin the supermarket was sold to a

"For six months of the yearAfrican roses are quite simply bet-ter than Dutch ones", says Jeroenvan der Hulst. "However, I have tosay that this applies when they arein the greenhouse. The quality isless easily appreciated at auctiondue to the problems that occurbetween harvesting and selling.Growing is easy; transport is chal-lenging. As far as African roses areconcerned there is a great deal ofroom for improvement in thisarea", says Van der Hulst.

COOLCHAIN • 15Growing is easy, transport is challenging

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

satisfied customer. Unfortunatelywe still have a long way to go."

Transport by seaVan der Hulst and Transfresh areresearching the possibilities of trans-porting cut flowers by sea.Transfresh is a member of theChiquita Group. So far twenty suc-cessful shipments have been carriedout, between Central and NorthAmerica and the Netherlands andbetween Africa and the Nether-lands. The flowers are transported inspecial containers at a constant tem-perature of 0.5 C. Van der Hulst:"Flowers are not nearly as perisha-ble as is commonly thought. It isalmost impossible to see any diffe-rence between fresh flowers and flo-wers that have been transported fortwo to three and a half weeks at 0.5C." He bases the good results on thefact that in airfreight there areseveral links between the farm andthe final destination, while in thecase of sea freight there are onlythree.

Problems after transport

Different stages of maturity: oneflower is still shut and anotherfully open. Flowers that are har-vested when too mature or stillimmature. Buds from whichpetals have been picked.Pests and diseases: black marginson petals, Botrytis, mildew, cater-pillar damage.Transport damage: Damagedboxes, flowers packed too looselyin the boxes, transport at too higha temperatur

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Bosman BV (BurggraafTuinbouwtechniek)Mr. Jac. Takkade 31432 CA AALSMEERHOLLANDtel. +31-297-323951fax+31-297-342889info@bosmanbv.nlstand number: 2.102

Celtic Koeling bv/Bioclimatic bvOegstgeesterweg 2412231 AV RIJNSBURGHOLLANDtel. +31-71-4082743fax+31-71-4082744bl@celtic.nlstand number 2.005

DecoFresh HollandP.O. Box 10981430 BA AALSMEERHOLLANDtel. +31-297-365441fax.+31-297-365440matti@decofresh.nlstand number 2.002

DREA Ltd.P.O. Box 20920117 NAV - HOLLAND - KENYAtel. +254-50-2030576fax+254-50-2021035robert@drea.co.kestand number 2.015

Empas bvadress = ATSstand number 2.008

Ethiopian Magical FarmRijneveld 122a2771 XR BOSKOOP - HOLLANDinfo@kolster.nltel. +31-172-217090fax +31-172-218197stand number 2.118

FormFlex Horti SystemsAartsdijkweg 102676 LE MAASDIJKHOLLANDmvijverberg@formflex.nltel +31-174-315010fax+31-174-510764stand number 2.011

Geerlofs Refrigeration BVP.O. Box 1372600 AC DELFTHOLLANDtel +31-70-3192132fax+31-70-3192156www. geerlofs.cominfo@geerlofs.nlstand number 2.024

GreenspanVliethof 514844 EZ TERHEIJDENHOLLANDtel +31-76-5938108fax+31-76-5938129arnoverm@wanadoo.nlstand number 2.110

HorticoopKlappolder 1502665 LP BLEISWIJKHOLLANDtel. +31-10-5241613fax +31-10-5219905export@horticoop.nlstand number 2.117

Hortiland HollandP.O. Box 513295 ZJ 'S-GRAVENDEELHOLLANDtel. +31-78-6737085fax +31-78-6737086hortiland@hol.grstand number 2.122

Hortus SuppliesInternational B.V.Poelweg 121424 PB DE KWAKELHOLLANDtel. +31-297-524919fax+31-297-525288export@hsibv.nlstand number 2.023

J. van de Put Fresh Cargo HandlingFolkstoneweg 651118 LN SCHIPHOL Z.O.HOLLANDtel. +31-20-4055105fax +31-20-4055193mvandeput@vandeput.nlstand number 2.108

Jan Spek Rozen BVZijde 155 - 2771 EV BOSKOOPHOLLANDtel. +31-172-212120fax +31-172-214455erik@rozen.comstand number 2.126

KLM Cargo - Air FranceP.O. Box 77001117 ZL SCHIPHOL - HOLLANDtel. +31-20-6486044fax +31-20-6493114nanda.heikens@klmcargo.comstand number 2.009

Kolster BV BreedingRijneveld 122a2771 XR BOSKOOPHOLLANDinfo@kolster.nltel. +31-172-217090fax +31-172-218197stand number 2.114

Lex +Hoofdweg 1481433 JX KUDELSTAARTHOLLANDtel. +31-297-361422fax+31-297-361420martin@lex.nlstand number 2.010

Linssen Roses Ethiopia PLCDe Horstweg 1515926 RM VENLOHOLLANDtel. +31-77-3230522fax+31-77-3230526linssenroses@xs4all.nlstand number 2.107

Lutgo GlobalLakenblekerstraat 491431 GE AALSMEER - HOLLANDtel. +31-297-255570fax+31-297-255571info@lutgo.nlstand number 2.025

12 m²

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Exit

Entrance

3m

3m

2,5m

2,5m

3,5m

2.001 2.003 2.005 2.007 2.009 2.011 2.013 2.019

2.124

2.1222.1202.118

2.1162.1142.1122.1102.1082.102

2.101

2.002

2.105

2.006

2.107

2.008

2.109

2.010

2.111

2.012

2.115

2.016 2.018

2.121

2.022

3m

2.119

2.0202.126

9 m²

2.117

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2.109

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2.015 2.023

2.1142.110

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2.123

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A D D I S A B A B A E X P O C E N T E R - H O R T I F L O R A E T H I O P I A I N A G L A N C E !

Dutch Pavilion

Lex +

Horticoop MPSLinssenRoses

Empas bvATS

Sercom

Olij Breeding B.V.Ministerie van LNV

BloemenveilingAalsmeer

Gee

rlof

sR

efri

gera

tion

Dec

oFre

sh H

olla

nd

ST

OR

E -

RO

OM

Jan

Spe

kR

ozen

BV

Opt

imal

Conn

ecti

on

J. van de Put Fresh Cargo

Handling

Bosman BV(Burggraaf

Tuinbouwtechniek)

Greenspan Kolster BV Breeding EthiopianMagical

Farm

Wilk vander Sande

HortilandHolland

Van Kleef Roses

DREA Ltd.Wageningen URFormFlexHorti

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KLM Cargo-Air France

HorticampAgro

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TebarintB.V.Flower

Forward

CelticKoeling bv/Bioclimatic

Rovero HortusSupplies

International

LutgoGlobal

Olij Breeding B.V.Achterweg 73 1424 PP DE KWAKELHOLLANDtel. +31-297-382929fax +31-297-341340p.veys@olijrozen.nlstand number 2.020

RoveroP.O. Box 1624940 AD RAAMSDONKVEERHOLLANDtel. +31-162-574574fax+31-162-574500info@rovero.nlstand number 2.019

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Flower Forward BVGansoord 762165 BD LISSERBROEK HOLLANDtel. +31-252-432855fax +31-252-432856erwin@flowerforward.nlstand number 2.001

Tebarint B.V.P.O. Box 342685 ZG POELDIJKHOLLANDtel. +31-174-286303fax +31-174-286300henk.ham@tebarint.nlstand number 2.003

Bloemenveiling AalsmeerP.O. Box 10001430 BA AALSMEERHOLLANDtel. +31-297-392275fax+31-297-390047erik.jan.hoornstra@vba.nlstand number 2.109

Wageningen URP.O. Box 886700 AB WAGENINGENHOLLANDtel. +31-317-495376fax +31-317-495395petra.schlooz@wur.nlstand number 2.013

Wilk van der SandeP.O. Box 902685 ZH POELDIJKHOLLANDrob.alleblas@wvds.nltel. +31-174-245727fax+31-174-248739rob.alleblas@wvds.nlstand number 2.120

Name exhibitor standnumberUFO 1.204UFO Supplies 1.204FloraHolland 1.015Preesman International 1.012Interplant 1.200Terra Nigra 1.116FTG Sales 1.006De Ruiter Seeds 3.110Erma Zaden 3.009

Other Netherlands companies present at Hortiflora Ethiopia:

Hall 2

Optimal ConnectionP.O. Box 11431430 BC AALSMEER - HOLLANDtel. +31-297-392200fax +31-297-390093office@optimal-connection.comstand number 2.124

Ministery P.O. Box 204012500 EK DEN HAAG - HOLLANDtel. +31-70-3784169fax+31-70-3786123j.p.schenk@minlnv.nlstand number 2.016

MPSP.O. Box 5332675 ZT HONSELERSDIJKHOLLANDtel. +31-174-615715fax+31-174-633696info@my-mps.comstand number 2.121

Horticamp HorticulturalTechnologyUitterlier 272678 TZ DE LIER - HOLLANDtel. +31-174-528560fax +31-174-244141piet@horticamp.nlstand number 2.007

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In the seven years since 2000,Golden Rose has developed into a20 ha rose farm and 2 ha of hyperi-cum. In addition the farm has a 3600m2 propagation unit, a packagingfactory for boxes, a bunching paperproduction and an input tradinglicense for fertilizers and pesticides."Golden Rose employs approxima-tely 1000 people half of whom arewomen. The site is near Tefki, 42kmfrom Addis Ababa on the recentlycompleted Jimma highway. One ofthe most satisfying consequences of

the farm investment in Tefki is thedevelopment of the local communi-ty as Tefki village recently appliedfor a change of status to that of aTown", says Alim ShamjiGolden Rose is MPS and FFP certi-fied and has applied for FLO regist-ration. As a direct result of the inputof Sunflor in Switzerland, GoldenRose has up-graded its post harvestsystems to maximise end-qualitypresentation to its direct customersin Germany, Norway and Switzer-land amongst others."Our family is all born in Ugandabut based in the UK now. Both myolder brother and I went to theUniversity of Texas, Austin. Sincethe year 2000 when Golden Rosepioneered in the Ethiopian floricul-ture industry, the country has a veri-table international community offloriculture investors, managers andpropagators both local and foreign(Kenya, Holland, Israel, India,Ecuador and the UK.) with approxi-mately 600 ha of floriculture thathave developed in the 4 years sincethe government incentivised the sec-

tor specifically", explains AlimShamji.Ryaz Shamji, the General Manageris recognized as an industry leader

with his appointment to the newlyestablished Ethiopian InvestmentCommission Advisory Council.

'Golden Rose is MPS and FFP certified'

Alim Shamji of Golden Rose Agrofarms was one of the exhibitors of HortiFair 2006.

"Ten years ago Ethiopia had norose farming industry," saysAlim Shamji, who works with hisbrother, Ryaz Shamji, to managethe family-owned Golden RoseAgrofarms. "That is when webegan highland farming of rosesat 2063 meters. It took an idea,consultants, a feasibility studyand patience to acquire first thelicences, then the land and then abank loan."

The Minaye rose farm was started inDecember 2004. Exports from thefirst 6.50 ha began in August 2005. Inthe 2005 shipping season MinayeFlowers’ export were valued at € 1.2million and in the current seasonending June 2007, they expect toexport roses valued at € 2 million.By next year they will have 14.5 hain production and they have askedfor 20 ha more land, and plan tohave 16 ha more in production byJune 2008.“I would say we are beco-ming an important player,” Yidene-kachew Ayele says with pride.The family business is in the import,retail & whole sale & service rende-ring in various sectors.Yidnekachew Ayele went to the USto get a BA in business management

in Minnesota, returning in 2003.“We saw that roses were an emer-ging industry.We carefully studied the industry,got to know the players, and saw theEthiopian advantages of climate,weather and freight costs, we thendecided to be part of the industry. Ivisited Kenya, the Netherlands andstudied the Flower business, theireconomies of scale and good flowerquality and the importance ofhaving a large industry with manyyears of experience. In Zambia,which also had a nice start, I learnedthat even smaller-headed roses hada separate market share that canbring profits."In both countries YidnekachewAyele learned the importance ofusing the proper growing techni-ques. "I learned the importance ofdealing well with different stakehol-ders. I also saw the importance of asupportive government.Let me state right here that thecommitment and attention of theEthiopian government to the flori-culture export sector has been a keyfactor in the success of our boomingindustry today. My advice to poten-tial Ethiopian investors is to nothesitate. Go right out and get invol-

ved in export floriculture. Ethiopianinvestment will be good for thesustainability of the industry. But Iadvise potential investors also to gointo the business realizing that it is atime-sensitive industry and youmust expect to be right on top of itat all times, 365 days a year.”

'Go right out and get involved in floriculture'Yidnekachew Ayele, general manager of Minaye Flowers:

President Olusegun Obasanjo ofNigeria visits Minaye Flowers indecember 2006, the person explai-ning the farm to the president isYidnekachew Ayele.

“Welcome to Ethiopia,” says oneof the successful young Ethiopianflower growers, YidnekachewAyele, General Manager of hisfamily farm Minaye Flowers.Minaye Flowers is a 100%Ethiopian-owned export floricul-ture operation set on 20 ha ofland, 50 km southeast of AddisAbaba at an altitude of 1950meters.

MADE IN ETHIOPIA • 19

Alim Shamji manager of Golden Rose Agrofarms

Adugna Bekele,owner of Dugda

Floriculture

'The resultsso far are

satisfactory'Dugda Floriculture is a farmof 35 hectares located at 1950meters. Of the 35 hectares,Mr. Adugna Bekele, the owner,an Ethiopian, has, with thehelp of one consultant fromIsrael and a technician fromKenya, planted 14 hectares ofroses. This is the first time thatMr. Bekele has invested in flo-riculture. Before he was invarious businesses includingtransportaion and maunfactu-res, so this rose farm repre-sents a diversification effort onhis part. The results so far aresatisfactory.

Dugda Floriculture roses arebeing exported to FloraHollandand the VBA auction in theNetherlands. The prices ofValentine's Day 2006 were verygood, and the prices ofValentine's Day 2007 were downperhaps 25%, due, Mr. Bekelesays to very cold weather inEurope. This year's Valentine'sDay prices were good for red, buthe only has 15% red planted onthe farm.Mr. Bekele will continue toexpand the rose plantings on hisfarm. He will be adding 10 morehectares in 2007 for a total of 24hectares. He also plans to conti-nue to be very active withEHPEA and in the expansion ofthe industry of the whole.Eventually he would like todiversify furthur into the produc-tion and export of fruits andvegetables.

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

On the occasion Mrs NadineMeilland presented a commemorati-ve book, "The Grand Rose Family"to H.E. Girma Wolde Giorgis.Meilland started looking at low-energy production areas for rosesduring the oil crisis of 1973. ”Wetook the decision then to observevarieties in countries like Ecuadorand Colombia. We were welcomedas an industry in those countries

because growing flowers for exportcontributed a good source ofemployment in the rural areas for apermanent labor force, thus slowingthe migration to the cities. It taughtpeople to grow roses, and it broughtforeign exchange income to thecountry. It is only recently, since wesigned our first contract there, thatwe have understood the potential ofthe rose industry in Ethiopia,”recounts Mr. Etavard.“For us, different from growingroses in other part of the world dueto the specific conditions. We arekeenly interested in learning theunique characteristics of growing inEthiopia so that we can advise ourclients properly." Two hundredMeilland rose varieties are plantedin a 3000 square meter demonstra-tion plot located at Oda FlowersPvt. Ltd. Co. Farm in Sebeta situatedat the altitude of 2300 meters abovesea level (m. asl). Oda Flowers Plc is

committed to producing and sellingquality cut flower roses into theinternational markets using thelatest technologies and know-how,and showing the possibilities forfuture development of Ethiopia inthe sector of horticulture. Some ofthe very latest varieties created byMeilland like 'Moulin Rouge' arealready exploited by Oda Flowers, aFrench-Ethiopian Company. Thereat Oda Flowers, Meilland will beselecting new rose varieties forEthiopia. The hybrids selected maybe the same or different from theones selected for Kenya or otherAfrican countries. “We will be dou-ble-checking our research,” saysBruno Etavard. “Kenya and Ethio-pia have their own pluses and minu-ses as growing areas. There are mar-ket complementarities in Europebetween the roses produced inEthiopia at higher altitudes with alonger production cycle, and those

grown in Kenya certainly for diffe-rent market segments. It will be upto the rose grower to choose accor-ding to his own specific market."Mrs Lemlem SISSAY, GeneralManager Oda Flowers is represen-ting Meilland International for thecommercial introduction of thevarieties in Ethiopia after evalu-ation.

Nadine Meilland offers the bookto H.E. Girma Wolde Giorgis.

“The inauguration of Oda Flowers’Sebeta farm, and the Meillanddemonstration unit in Ethiopia,January 13, 2007, was a remarkableoccasion for all of us,” says BrunoEtavard, director of the LicenseDepartment at Meilland Interna-tional. “We were particularly hono-red with the presence of H.E.President Girma Wolde Giorgis,President of the Federal DemocraticRepublic of Ethiopia.”

Ethiopian highlands are unique

HOW IS LIFE IN HOLLAND? • 21

On the day in April when MesfinKinfe arrived in the port ofRotterdam the weather was cloudy.The year was 1980 and there aremany reasons why that year hasstuck in his memory.The first was the climate shock.Walking through the city on theRiver Maas, he was amazed to seepeople walking through the streetsclad in shorts and T-shirts. When hehad left Khartoum a month earlier itwas the height of summer and as faras the temperature in this astoun-dingly flat country was concerned, itseemed as though the sun hardlyhad the power to produce heat.Wherever he walked the sound ofmusic came from open pub doors.The song he heard was nearlyalways the latest hit by popularDutch singer Andre Hazes. "Thename of the song was Een beetjeverliefd (A little in love). We tookthe text quite literally. At the timethere were eight of us, all fromEthiopia, and within the shortesttime we had all married Dutchwomen", says Mesfin, who has sincedivorced his first wife. He remarriedlast year and his new wife isEthiopian.

University of HorticultureOnce in the Netherlands Mesfinshowed his mettle. He took theentrance examination for theTechnical University of Delft andstarted on a course of study.

Unfortunately the language barrierput an untimely end to his studies. In1986 Mesfin started work in thetechnical department of horticultur-al supplier Brinkman. I developedinto a genuine engineer. Basically, Ican now construct a substrate unitall on my own."All the credit goes to his employersBrinkman. 'I actually work at theUniversity of Horticulture. Brink-man has been operating for morethan 120 years and wherever you goin the Dutch horticultural sector,you will meet someone who hasworked at Brinkman."

Secret hopeNow that floriculture is expandingrapidly in his home country, his desi-re to help his fellow countrymen hasintensified. "On the one hand there

is nothing I would like better; I gohome several times a year and havealready carried out some jobs there.Quite often the Ethiopians are una-ble to believe their ears.A compatri-ot who knows a lot about horticul-tural engineering - that is somethingquite unique. On the other hand thefact cannot be avoided that the stan-dard of living in Ethiopia is muchlower."Somewhere in his heart he holds thesecret hope that his employer willfollow in the footsteps of colle-ague/competitor Horticoop andopen a branch in Ethiopia. "I wouldreally like that. Whatever: the levelsof high technology we are familiarwith in Dutch farms have to be ofsome interest for Africa. Obviouslythey do not yet have a use for a com-puter that allows 200 ventilation

windows to be opened at the push ofa button, but there is plenty ofdemand for basic materials such aspH and EC meters, pumps and irri-gation techniques."

AuthenticityThe Dutch-Ethiopian is not at allsurprised that, within a short period,the mainly agricultural country ofEthiopia has grown to becomeAfrica's second largest exporter ofcut flowers. The Dutch often onlyknow three things about Ethiopia:Haile Selassie, the young marathonrunner Haile Gebreselassie andstarvation. This is annoying."Ethiopia is also the source of theBlue Nile, which together with theWhite Nile and the Tekeze River,which also rises in Ethiopia, formsthe river Nile."

Another unique fact in his eyes isthat, apart from its short occupationby Mussolini in 1936, the countryhas never been colonised and thisgives it great authenticity. "For exa-mple, the road map of Addis doesnot exhibit the English rectilinearitythat is found in neighbouring coun-tries. And Amharic has survived thecenturies," says Mesfin, who speaksAmharic with his wife at home.

Open heartednessAt work and with his mainly Dutchfriends he normally speaks Dutch.Speaking the language of a countrygenerally helps one to understandthe mentality of its population.Whatare the Dutch like in daily relations?Mesfin specifies honesty as the gre-atest Dutch virtue. "Generally spe-aking they are also extremely directand perhaps just a little frugal. Thisis not appreciated in Ethiopia. Herethe people easily assume thatEuropeans are rich and expect giftsfrom them. Tips for Ethiopians whowant to do successful business withthe Dutch? Remember that they arevery hard workers, which sometimesmakes them seem impatient.Another tip for Ethiopians: do notbe scared off by Dutch open hear-tedness. It is perfectly normal fordiseases like cancer to be discussedquite openly."

In churchIn the Netherlands, 10 hours flyingtime from Addis Ababa, Mesfin stillkeeps his ties with his home countryalive. As an active member of theEthiopian Orthodox fellowship, hecan nearly always be found inchurch on Sundays. Two months agothe church moved to new premisesin Pernis, not far from Rotterdam."We pray and sing a lot there anddress in traditional Ethiopian costu-me. On 11 September this year wewill be celebrating the Ethiopianmillennium with a huge party.

'Do not be scared off by Dutch open heartedness'DELFT - Mesfin Kinfe was born inAddis Ababa and has lived and wor-ked in the Netherlands for more than25 years. One unusual thing aboutKinfe is the fact that in his workinglife he specialised in horticulturalengineering long before horticulturetook off in his home country. He talksabout living and working in the Ne-therlands, his unbreakable link withEthiopia and his wish to help thepeople of his home country.

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

In the town of Delft AdmassuGessesse runs a restaurant calledAbessinië that specialises in Ethio-pian food. He is just as happy to eathis national dish of “injera” (Ethio-pian flat bread) as a typical Dutchsmoked sausage, but only if it comeswith kale or sauerkraut. A storyabout typical Ethiopian and Dutcheating habits and about the Dutchcelebration of “Sinterklaas”.

Admassu could hardly believe hiseyes when he first came to theNetherlands 26 years ago. It was theend of November and in every townand village he entered, he saw thesame strange character on a horse,being greeted and sung to by hordesof people – especially parents withchildren. He followed the long, wavygrey beard, mitre, robe and staff andcame to the conclusion that thismust be some venerable and agedbishop.

TraditionLater, after he had found a refuge ina Catholic monastery in Utrechtwith the aid of Amnesty Internati-onal, the monks explained the mat-ter to him. What he had witnessedwas part of a national celebrationand the old man with his lovely, butfalse, beard symbolised St. Nicholasor, as the Dutch call him Sinterklaas.Dutch parents tell their young child-ren that this Bishop and children’s’friend lives in Spain. Every year, inmid- November, he sets off for theNetherlands by steamboat, where hearrives in time to celebrate his birth-day on 5 December.

Admassau enjoys the Sinterklaascelebrations. ”When my childrenwere small I used to take them tothe Sinterklaas party at the placewhere I worked.”

Nile perchAlthough Admassu was an artist ori-ginally, he had to learn a trade sothat he could find work in theNetherlands and he chose to train asa cook in Zandvoort. The transitionfrom canvas to kitchen was never aproblem for him. ”Cooking is similarto painting because it allows you toput a great deal of your own creati-vity into it.”He had more problems with the pre-conceptions exhibited by his fellow

trainees and teachers. ”I discoveredthat they knew much less aboutEthiopia than we knew aboutEurope. They were often amazed atmy stories about our rich Ethiopiangastronomic culture and about inje-ra. They also found it difficult tobelieve that I could be familiar withWestern food. In fact my brotherused to work in one of the luxuryhotels in Addis and I visited himthere occasionally. I was no strangerto food such as shrimps, whiting andNile perch. There were also manyquestions about famine. I actuallynever saw any signs of famine inAddis but I do remember that wecollected money at school for thestarving poor. Ethiopia is a gigantic

country and most of the famine wasexperienced in the North.”

Culinary concessionsIn 1993 Admassu decided to start hisown business. ”Chinese, Greek, Me-xican: the Netherlands already hadso many representatives of interna-tional cuisine, that I felt sure therewas still room for something new.”In Delft, one of the most pictures-que towns in the Netherlands,Admassu now runs a restaurant cal-led Abessinie, which seats forty andoffers not only Ethiopian food butalso other African specialities.Because he is so far from his homecountry it is impossible for Admassunot to make the occasional culinaryconcession. However, he is careful toensure that his food is as authenticas possible. ”If Ethiopians comehere to eat, they can easily recognisethe flavours of their home country.”When compatriots sit down to eat inhis restaurant Admassu tends tomake the dishes spicier than normal.”There are always a few adjustmentsto be made. For example, the realEthiopian injera is made with teff, around grain that is not available inEurope. However, I am able toimport my kebe from Ethiopia.Dutch butter contains 80% fat and Ifeel that this is too much of a goodthing.Kebe contains more fat and is seaso-ned. Nowadays globalisation meansthat there are few things we cannotget hold of. I can buy typicalEthiopian herbs and spices such asberbere and metenta in Indonesianshops.”

Between gommen and curly kaleAdmassu has been married to hisDutch wife Christina since 1982 andis therefore familiar with the Dutchtable and the obligatory “Eet sma-kelijk” - the two words the Dutchuse to say “enjoy your meal”. Heloves curly kale or sauerkraut withsmoked sausage and when his child-ren used to ask for these dishes, hehad no problem preparing thesetypically Dutch meals. ”The taste ofcurly kale is similar to that of theEthiopian gommen, except thatgommen has much longer and bro-ader leaves. Sauerkraut has somesimilarity to the slightly acidic fla-vour of our injera.His home country still calls to him.”The last time I went to Ethiopiawas last March. I went there with aDutch trade mission on meat pro-cessing to check out the possibilitiesof establishing a slaughterhouse inSouthwest Ethiopia. ”The area thereis populated by nomads who keepsheep, goats and cattle. At themoment they sell nearly all theirlivestock to Sudan and earn very lit-tle.The establishment of a slaughter-house would cause a considerableimprovement to the standard of lifeof the people in this region. ”These words lead seamlessly into theinformation about Ethiopia on thelast page of the menu in Admassau’srestaurant: ”It is considered a disg-race if someone thinks they canmake it without the help of others:that person is an egotist.

Eet smakelijk - Enjoy your meal

SMALL COUNTRY - GREAT PARTNER • 23

Dutch floriculture: quality, innovation and sustainabilityHolland's leading position in agri-culture is notable in the ornamentalssector. When it comes to breeding,growing and marketing bulbs, flo-wers and plants, the country's repu-tation is second to none. Floriculturealone accounts for a quarter of theproduction value of the Dutch agri-cultural sector. Dutch bulbs makeup over 80 percent of all bulbsexported throughout the world.Greenhouses in the Netherlands

cover an area of 6,000 hectares,equivalent to 12,000 soccer fields.Breeders, propagators, and growersdeliver a unique range of productsyear-round, all of them certified bygovernment-overseen inspectionagencies that scrutinize everythingfrom purity and uniformity to moi-sture and pests. Companies that sup-ply these high-tech production sys-tems have formed a business sectorin their own right. Moreover, theNetherlands is the hub in interna-tional flower trade, and Dutch auc-tions and trading houses are a keyplatform for the global flower trade.Of all cut flowers and plants tradedworldwide, more than half passesthrough Dutch auctions. TheNetherlands horticulture sector isalso a leading player in the produc-tion, import and re-export of vegeta-bles and fruit, and is gaining a gro-wing profile as a service provider forEuropean supermarket chains.

Chain Cooperation Of course, rapid distribution is cru-cial when trading perishable goodssuch as flowers and plants.Close cooperation within the supplychain, as well as Holland's well-maintained infrastructure, enablethe Dutch to meet that challenge. Infact, the sector's logistics are mind-boggling.Flowers and plants are trucked in orflown in through Schiphol, Amster-dam's busy airport, which togetherwith the Port of Rotterdam plays a

vital logistical role. At auctions, lotsare broken apart and sold; a fewhours later, deliveries have beenassembled and are already on theirway. A flower that emerges in aDutch greenhouse could be sold inParis or New York by the end of theday, thanks to highly advanced sys-tems controlling the sorting, packa-ging and reassembling of batches offlowers and plants. Growers, auc-tions, traders, and distributors haveteamed up to make logistics evenmore efficient. The same is true forthe fruit and vegetable sector.The Dutch owe their leading posi-tion to a tradition of combining fier-ce competition, supply chain coope-ration and a strong focus on innova-tion. Public and private organisa-tions work closely together to provi-de high-tech responses to new mar-ket demands. The sector can be seenas a well-oiled machine in which allparts of the supply chain worktogether smoothly.The ornamentals sector is becomingincreasingly internationalised, andmany Dutch growers have relocatedto other countries such as Ethiopia.Suppliers of equipment and growingmaterial are achieving great success,and wholesalers source their pro-ducts from all over the globe, as youcan see for yourself at the DutchPavilion.All these reasons have led to whatpeople throughout the world willeagerly affirm: Holland: SmallCountry, Great Partner.

Holland: Small Country,Great Partner

For more information about the Dutch floriculture:

www.agriculturefromholland.nlInformation on producers andexporters in the agricultural sectorin the Netherlands.

www.avag.nlTrade organization for contractorsand fitters in glasshouse horticultu-re in the Netherlands.

www.bulbsonline.orgThe International Flower BulbCentre provides the Dutch flowerbulb growers and traders withinternational promotion for theirflower bulbs and bulb flowers.

www.vbn.nlThe Dutch flower AuctionsAssociation

www.flowercouncil.orgThe Flower Council of Hollandpromotes the sale of floriculturalproducts from the Netherlands onbehalf of the growers and traders.

www.foodfromholland.nlInformation on producers andexporters in the food sector in theNetherlands.

www.minlnv.nlThe Ministry of Agriculture,Nature and Food Quality of theNetherlands.

www.minlnv.nl/pdPlant Protection Service (PD) ofthe Netherlands

www.plantum.nlDutch association for breeding, tis-sue culture, production and tradeof seeds and young plants.

www.naktuinbouw.nl Netherlands Inspection Service forHorticulture promotes and moni-tors the quality of products, proces-ses and chains in horticulture, focu-sing particularly on propagationmaterial.

www.minlnv.nlThe Ministry of Agriculture,Nature and Food Quality of theNetherlands.

www.pph.nlPlant Publicity Holland promotesthe hardy nursery stock from theNetherlands.

www.wur.nlThe Wageningen University andResearch Centre (WageningenUR) in the Netherlands provideseducation and generates knowled-ge in the field of life sciences andnatural resources.

24 hours at a Dutch flower auction

A flower auction is more than just the clock and an auctionroom filled with traders. Dutch flower auctions are often hugecomplexes with thousands of customers and staff. An illustra-

ted article on the operation of a Dutch flower auction.

16.00 - 04.00 hrs.Growers from all over the country

ensure that their flowers and plantsarrive punctually and in good con-dition. Deliveries arrive in the eve-

ning and at night, not only in thegrowers own trucks but also in the

vehicles of collective floriculturaltransport organisations.

16.00 -04.00 hrs.Around 99% of cut flowers are

moved to huge refrigerated unitsimmediately on arrival at the auc-tion. In this way the freshness and

quality of the products can be guar-anteed.

04.00- 06.00 hrs.Most growers inspect their flowersand plants themselves. The quality

inspectors of the auction make ran-dom checks to see whether the gro-wer has properly evaluated the flo-wers and plants. The quality of the

information is also checked: what iswritten on the consignment notemust also actually be delivered.

0.600 – 09.30 hrs.The auction rooms with the auction

clocks are the throbbing heart ofthe auction. The price is determinedby the Dutch system: the first buyer

to press the button not only deter-mines the price, but buys the batch

at the same time. Every morningtens of millions of flowers and

plants change hands via the auctionclocks. Thousands of transactions

take place between grower andbuyer in the space of a few hours.

06.00 – 11.00 hrs.The distribution hall resembles an

anthill: it is teeming with people,flowers and plants. It appears chao-

tic, but everyone goes straight to hisgoal.

07.00 – 13.00 hrs.Within a few hours after the pur-

chase, the businesses established atthe auction receive the flowers and

plants at the front door. The flowersand plants are fresh when they arri-

ve at the auction, and it is impor-tant that they remain so on their

route to the consumer. The earlierthey are with the buyer, the faster

he can process the flowers andplants and transport. This goes on

day and night.

10.00 – 16.00 hrs.Once the flowers and plants havearrived at the exporter’s box theyare processed by specialised staff.

Cut flowers are frequently repacka-ged or used in mixed bouquets. Thetrend with pot plants is to finish the

products off with added value ele-ments. These can take the form ofspecial pots, labels, wrappers and

stickers.

Dutch agriculture is famous for areason: Holland may be a very smallcountry, but its inhabitants havemanaged to turn it into a global agri-cultural powerhouse. Turning theirspatial limitations into a distinctadvantage, Dutch farmers and gro-wers are skilled innovators who usehigh-tech research and training tocreate endless streams of niche plantvarieties, fresh and processed foodproducts and technologies to boostproductivity and quality. Furthermore, the Netherlands is aglobal leader in trading and proces-sing agro products. The position ofthe Netherlands as the second large-st exporter of agro products is facili-tated by its excellent infrastructure,with its focal points of the Port ofRotterdam and Schiphol Airport.

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

Mijnsherenweg 33 - 1433 AP Aalsmeer - Holland - roses@vankleef.nl - www.vankleef.nl

Judith ZuurbierManaging Director

Siebe DuivenvoordenArea Manager

Holland, Belgium

Tom Fraser Area Manager Kenya,

Tanzania, Uganda

Auke Grond Area Manager

Ethiopia

PROMISING BUSINESS • 25March 2007

Ethiopian farmers do a good job

New investment introduces qua-lity potato seed to the Ethiopianfarmers

No flowers this time, no tulips:another famous agricultural pro-duct of The Netherlands is potatoseed. The potato company HZPCHolland BV has its major marketin the Mediterranean region andis trading around 400.000 tonnesof seed potatoes annually.Farmers in these countries needhigh yielding varieties: HZPC iscontinuously creating new varie-ties. Potato will degenerate in oneor two years time, due to theaccumulation of diseases: HZPCwill provide healthy and certifiedelite-seed. This combination ofbest seed and best varieties ens-ures the local farmers to gain thehighest yields and the best profits.”The success of this strategy inNorthern Africa, even in harshclimates, challenged me to startup a similar company in Ethi-opia”, tells the former headResearch of HZPC, Jan van deHaar. He will move with his fami-ly to Ethiopia soon.”Ethiopian farmers do a goodjob, but they urgently need quali-ty seed.”Together with a group of inve-stors, and stimulated by a PSOM-grant from the Dutch gover-nment, Van de Haar established anew seed company in Ethiopia,named Solagrow PLC. This com-pany will introduce a commercialseed potato production systemusing HZPC-varieties and usingthe Dutch experience and know-ledge in growing healthy seed.The temperate climate at highaltitudes makes Ethiopia to thebest country for year round seedproduction, either under irriga-tion or during the rainy season.Last month 16 HZPC-varietieswere imported via Djibouti andplanted at several locations. Theirperformance is tested in the diffe-rent climatic zones. Some varie-ties are typically bred for frenchfries or crisps, while the majorityare high yielding table potatoes.Solagrow is starting up main offi-ces in Debre Zeit (Oromia), just50 km south of Addis Ababa.Cold storages, a grading and pac-king line and a molecular patho-logy lab will be parts of this pota-to demonstration centre.Outgrowers at high altitudes inseveral regions in Ethiopia will becontracted and trained to growseed for their local farmers.With this investment and know-ledge transfer, Solagrow aims toenable the Ethiopian agricultureto improve their own food pro-duction. Export of potatoes to theneighbouring countries will furt-her enhance the local economy.Solagrow PLC can be contactedby mail to jjhaar@wxs.nl

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

Started with production facilities inEurope, the past few years there is amove to countries in Africa andLatin America. Not only for reasonsof production costs, but also for bet-ter climate conditions, enabling togrow good quality carnations for agood price. Seeing the popularity ofthe carnation, it is impossible forEuropean production facilities tomeet with the demand. This can bemet by importing flowers fromKenya and Ethiopia, since the USAmarket is already being suppliedfrom Latin America. Seeing thebenefits, it is not only recommendedbut also very lucrative to grow car-nations in Ethiopia. Ethiopia hasgood climate conditions, there is suf-ficient water supply, it's close to theEuropean market which is costbeneficial compared to other pro-duction facilities in Europe andLatin America, and Ethiopia hasgood transportation routings. Thequality of the carnation flowersimported from Ethiopia so far, isbeing appreciated for their goodquality. Reading the above, it can beconcluded that starting carnationgrowing in Ethiopia is a very promi-sing business activity. However tech-nical support is indispensable forsuccess. Since many years (started in1929) P. Kooij & Zonen B.V. isworldwide one of the leading com-panies in breeding, selecting andpropagating carnations. Situated inthe centre of the world flower indus-try in Aalsmeer - Holland, P. Kooij &Zonen B.V. can offer you a wide,

colourfull and exclusive range ofstandard and spray carnations. Theircuttings are being produced in ahighly up-to-date greenhouse underoptimum climate conditions to com-ply with their high quality standards.Due to very strict rules with regardsto hygiene P. Kooij & Zonen B.V. isable to keep their mother plantsvirus and disease free. The breedingdepartment is always looking todevelop new varieties/concepts butthe actual introduction depends onthe market acceptance.Even special breeding projects arebeing initiated to select varietiesthat can be grown perfectly in clima-te conditions like they are inEthiopia. Prior to the actual intro-duction of these varieties there willbe always a testing period. Sincemany years a lot of the cuttings arebeing produced in P. Kooij & ZonenB.V. own production facilities inColombia and Kenya. Seeing thecultural technical experiences inthese countries - comparable clima-te conditions - P. Kooij & Zonen B.v.can provide you with the best tech-nical support in case you decide tostart growing carnations. Technicalsupport on the spot is also possible.

For further information: P. Kooij &Zonen B.V/www.kooij.nl/ www.car-nation-arrangements.com

Growing carnations in EthiopiaCarnations have been grown forthe past 2.000 years. After a diffi-cult period, the carnation is nowagain one of the most popular flo-wers and it is now being conside-red a very modern, trendy flowerwith good keeping qualities. Theyare available in many differentcolours and colour shades andeasy to use in contemporaryarrangements. Leading floristsall over the world are using car-nations in their creative bouquetarrangements.

FloraHolland has a local represen-tative in Ethiopia Sander Klaver,since October 2005. He isFloraHolland's representative fornumerous growers, and the numbersof growers are increasing. Klaver:"When I arrived in October 2005, 6Ethiopian growers were supplyingat Flora Holland. Now, in February2007, there are 22. FloraHolland isan excellent marketplace for incre-asing numbers of growers. Thismeans that, together with colleaguesfrom the various auction locationsand the Intermediary Office, I ambusy all the time looking for ways toimprove the results of our growersin Ethiopia."Klaver provides, a lot of advice tostarting growers in particular,"What it boils down to is that gro-wers have to take a good look at thepossibilities and the limitations ofthe climate zone in which they grow,and that they take a good lookaround before making a decision. Ido help starting growers by introdu-cing them to possible partners, sup-pliers and give them a list of thevarious breeders and make marketintelligence available." However,both newcomers and establishedgrowers need to know which varie-ties are good to cultivate at the

moment, notes Klaver. "By produ-cing a good assortment analysisfrom a market perspective, we try toassist the grower in making his deci-sions. Together with the Interme-diary Office, I actively search forways in which growers can selldirectly. The local area managementplays an important role here, fromboth the supply and the demandside."More and more growers are expres-sing an interest in marketing a pro-portion of their products directly.Klaver: "We have taken these sig-nals very seriously. At the end of2006, FloraHolland actively startedto search for ways in which growerscould sell directly." This has led to asharp increase in sales. Direct saleshas increased more than sixfoldcompared to last year.

Klaver is optimistic about the futu-re of the ornamental plant and flo-wer industry in Ethiopia. He belie-ves that the Ethiopian governmentis right behind the industry. "On theone hand, the sector providesemployment in a country with oneof the fastest growing populations inthe world. On the other hand, itattracts foreign currency, so thatfurther investments can be made inthe country."

FloraHolland excellent marketplaceOrnamental plant and flower pro-duction is a booming business inEthiopia. In 2006, the acreageincreased from about 200 ha to400 ha. Sander Klaver, local areamanager for FloraHolland inEthiopia, expects the acreage toincrease by a further 200 to 300 hain 2007. The lion's share, some80%, involves roses, but carna-tions, hypericum, eryngium andgypsophila are also grown. For2007, the chrysanthemum will bean important newcomer. "Massivegrowth with immense opportuni-ties, but also big risks", saysKlaver. "Cultivation isn't a simplematter in Ethiopia, particularlythe logistical lines in this countryare long and this is where the chal-lenges lie. It's a lot different fromthe Netherlands." Sander KlaverGood quality carnations

“We started our demo farm in 2005just as the boom in Ethiopia began.We located it at 2250 meters, 350meters higher than our farm inKenya, to test the varieties on higheraltitude. We are world leaders whenit comes to varieties for high altitu-des, and are developing a specialline for Ethiopia’s high lands. Morerecently we are doing cooperativetesting of this high altitude lines,with four growers whose farms areup to 2600 meters: Menagesha Flo-wers, J.J. Kotari, Alliance/HoletaFlowers and Oromia Wonders Farm.”

Lack of rose propagation materialThere simply is a lack of rose propa-gation material. Some 70 hectaresare all ready for planning but thereis no planting material.

Ethiopia currently has only threeprofessional propagators. Ethio-plants, owned by Felix Steeghs, whoworked ten years with Stokman inKenya, has a big operation here.Then there is an Israeli operation,Joytech. And finally Michael Asresof Summit is propagating roses on

his farms. In addition, propagatorsin Kenya are trying to send plants toEthiopia, but they are having terri-ble problems getting the plants inusing passenger flights because theplants are often simply offloaded ifthe flights are full.“These 70 hectares of greenhouse in

Ethiopia that are not plantedremind me a lot of the 1996-1997period in Ecuador when a similarsituation occurred. But Ecuadorwent to 1800 hectares, and here inEthiopia the expansion is to 500 haof greenhouse and another 200-300ha coming on in 2007. So the scaleof expansion is not quite so big. Andthen also, the market situation isquite different. When Ecuador wasexpanding, the market was expan-ding too. Now the European marketis not growing seriously any more,the total scale of production will notgrow. The Ethiopian roses will high-ly compete with European producedflowers."

DevelopmentWhether the expansion continues inEthiopia will depend upon thegovernment. "If the governmentcontinues to be very supportive, theexpansion will continue. And I mustsay that never, in any other country,has the government been as suppor-tive of floriculture as the Govern-ment of Ethiopia. I imagine thateven if there is a government chan-ge in a few years, the likelihood isthat the support will continuebecause floriculture brings in a lot ofdevelopment in the country. In anycase, these are very exciting times tobe in Ethiopian export floriculture”,says Judith Zuurbier.

'Government continues to be very supportive'Judith Zuurbier of Van Kleef Roses:

Judith Zuurbier and her family arerose growers originally from theNetherlands. They went to Kenya,growing 18 hectares cut roses andtesting the Van Kleef line of rosehybrids at 1900 meters at LakeNaivasha in 2001. Two years later,though very successful in Kenya,they were looking for further oppor-tunities so they were looking for pos-sibilities in Ethiopia. At the time,2003 and 2004, the Ethiopian gover-nment was making things veryattractive. "We went for a survey toEthiopia in 2003 when there wereonly five growers in the country."

(ADVERTORIAL) (ADVERTORIAL)

"These are very exciting times to be in Ethiopian export floriculture”, saysJudith Zuurbier.

Bloemenveiling AalsmeerLegmeerdijk 313PO Box 1000 1430 BA AalsmeerPhone: +31 (0)297 39 70 00Email: servicepunt@aalsmeer.comwww.aalsmeer.com

“Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer:

around the clock,around the world.”

BLOEMENVEILING AALSMEER • 27

"Ethiopia has learned to producequality roses with very brightcolours, long stems and big bloomheads. What they also need is tofocus more on the post harvest andcontrol problems like botrytis, andimprove the cool chain. Systemsmust be established to cool on time,keep cool, make sure the truckshave coolers and that they are beingused properly, so that the CoolChain will not be broken." Packing could also be more precise.Cardboard carton must protect thepetal edges. These little details makea big difference.Then the air logistics need to beimproved, says Erik Jan Hoornstra."The fact that there is a lack of openand flexible competition amongtransporters out of Ethiopia is a pro-blem, particularly in the summerti-me. Solutions are urgent."

'The Ethiopian flower export industry is both exciting and promising'

"The Ethiopian flower export indus-try is both exciting and promising,"says Erik Jan Hoornstra, AccountManager Ethiopia, for the Bloemen-veiling Aalsmeer in the Nether-lands."Everyone from the farmowners to the employees from the vil-lagers are willing to work to make itsuccessful. The culture is right. Thereis a good attitude. This is basic formaking an investment. The gover-nment is open and helps with farmstart-ups.They are willing to investinto the future."

Ethiopia is in the top 3

According to the 2006 Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer auction statis-tics Ethiopia is in the top 3 countries of average prices, but stilla long way to go to the level of Ecuador.

Year 2006, RosesAverage price Roses: The Netherlands € 0,334/per stemAverage price Roses: Ecuador € 0,308/per stemAverage price Roses: Ethiopia € 0,157per stemAverage price Roses: Kenya € 0,145/per stemAverage price Roses: Zambia € 0,114/per stemAverage price Roses: Uganda € 0,095/per stemAverage price Roses: Zimbabwe € 0,094/per stem

Source: Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer

The objective at the BloemenveilingAalsmeer is to help the growermaximize quality so that he canmaximize his returns and his profita-bility. "Now that 60% of the rosessold on the Bloemenveiling Aals-meer clock are imported products,we work very closely together withthe foreign growers and their impor-ting agents to reduce the rejects. Weencourage the growers to follow thetwo golden rules of top quality andshipping continuity. This way they

will develop a quality image with thebuyers. Eventually the sales de-mand will be driven from specificclients. Direct business will developwith the Bloemenveiling Aalsmeersecuring the payments from theseforeign clients to the growers. In allof this, our goal is to optimize pricesfor our growers."Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer has twostrong sales-tools, the auction clockand direct sales. "We can offer manyservices to you growers from market

research, product launch, conceptdevelopment, sales, individual cus-tom marketing, prompt paymentguarantee, quality testing and quali-ty control advice. You can log intoour IT system and get the price atwhich your product was sold and theaverage price of the day and theweek. You can see how your qualitycompares with the average and yourreliability index. The whole objecti-ve in Aalsmeer is to try to raise theEthiopian quality and price-level, so

you can compete with the best com-parable Ecuadorian products."The Ecuador roses have become a"tradename" in the market. "If theEthiopia farms can improve on post-harvesting, coolchain, transpor andreliability the price can be pushedup. "If you need further info, pleasedo not hesitate to give me a call.Both Miss Tigist Gizaw, our salesrepresentative in Ethiopia, and I areworking to help you. She is here toaid potential investors with their

questions regarding banking, admi-nistration, breeders and consultantsand also to help you grow andexport the best flowers possible. Wenow have about 30 Ethiopian farmsshipping to Aalsmeer. We look for-ward to the volume of excellent flo-wer exports to BloemenveilingAalsmeer increasing as the farmsgrow, and as more farms produce theminimum volume and quality nee-ded to work with our clock system."

Miss Tigist GizawBloemenveiling Aalsmeer

representative, Addis Ababa EthiopiaTel: +251 11 1539599 - Mobile: +251 91 1623717

Erik Jan HoornstraBloemenveiling Aalsmeer - The Netherlands

Direct tel: +31 297 392 275 - Mobile: +31 6 2242 5902 Erik.Jan.Hoornstra@vba.nl www.aalsmeer.com

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS(ADVERTORIAL)

Olij Rozen is a family companylocated in De Kwakel, theNetherlands. For almost one centuryOlij Rozen has been a world-recog-nized volume producer of rose cut-tings and rose topgrafts. They pridethemselves in making rose varietiesfrom almost all rose breeders world-wide. Propagation is in a completelyclimate-controlled 2-hectare green-house with four separate compart-ments in which the conditions areadapted to the growing stage of theyoung plants. Transport on rollingtables is automated and computerstrack the location of each singlesmall rose plant. Pending the availa-bility of budwood, time betweenordering and delivery is 7 to 8weeks. Topgrafts on Natal Briar andPopeye can be delivered year-around. Topgrafts on Inermis can bedelivered from December untilAugust. Topgrafts can be used incocopeat or rockwool substrate ordirectly in the soil. Cuttings aremostly used on substrate of cocos orrockwool and are used when gro-wing conditions are optimal.

Sensational rose varietiesOlij is a not only a propagation com-pany. Through their Olij Breedingdivision, started in 1980, they havedeveloped such sensational rosevarieties as 'Red Berlin', 'Cézanne'-family, 'El toro', 'Blizzard' and'Kiwi'. Among their recent HybridTea introductions you will find'Rockefeller', 'Latina', 'Euforia','Cinnamon' and 'Dreamliner'.'Double Party' and 'Calabria' aretwo lovely introductions in themauve-purple and grey-red bi-colorgroup. Some real exclusive varietiesare 'Hypnose' (old pink lavenderwith green outside petal) and'Silverstone' (real lavender), bothbeing planted in Ethiopia.Olij Breeding also has a dependableseries of medium length bouquetroses including 'B-Happy', 'Olym-pia', 'El Toro', 'Torero', 'Gentle','Artic', 'Only White', 'Only Yellow','Red Sky', 'Ruslana' and 'Thun-derbird'. They reflect the Olij objec-tive of breeding their roses for both

productivity and long vase life. Inaddition to the long large and medi-um-flowered roses, Olij Breedingoffers eleven spray roses denomina-ted the Sensation Series.

Offices in seventeen countriesOlij Roses has offices in seventeencountries. They represent Bot@nicRoses worldwide. And they repre-sent Spek Rose breeding in Kenya,Tanzania, Uganda and other parts ofAfrica.The worldwide sales operation isrun by Mr. Philippe Veys (p.veys@olijrozen.nl). Local sales offices arerun by local managers. The salesoffice in Kenya and East-Africa isrun by Shirley-Ann McConnel,(sam@olijkenya.com). The Olijrozen office in Ethiopia is managedby Brook Tekle Wolde (info@olijet-hiopia.com).In Kenya, Olij Roses has a nurseryof about 9 ha under plastic out ofwhich they export fresh cut rosesdaily under the marketing name ofOnly Roses. That farm has existedfor 3 years The main goal of thefarm is to select new varieties under

the Kenyan circumstances andintroduce them into the market. Bydoing this, Olij roses can obtain mar-ket information, which it shares withits clients.

Debre ZeitAfter their experience in Kenya,Olij Roses decided about a year agoto start a nursery in Ethiopia as well.After studying the different possiblelocations Olij roses decided to starttheir farm in Debre Zeit on a 20 haplot land at 1900 meters above sealevel. Construction began in May2006 with the digging of a 7000 m3water reservoir and the building oftwo greenhouses of 2,5 ha each.Planting began in September 2006.The first production started inDecember and roses are now on dis-play in the show house and the testhouse. Varieties planted commer-cially at this moment are 'El Toro','Only Yellow', 'Artic', 'Infrared' and'Hypnose'.Olij Roses has decided to expandtheir Ethiopian farm with 2 moregreenhouses of 3.5 ha each. Theleveling and construction for this

has been started.The reason Olij started a secondfarm in Africa so near to Kenya wasthe Ethiopian climate. "By this OlijRoses means the climate as tempe-rature, light…which is near to per-fect for growing roses in Ethiopiabut also the political climate whichis doing a lot of efforts to get thisbusiness rolling, knowing that theinternational rose business is anextremely demanding business,"says Philippe Veys."Obviously the rose-industry is stillvery young in Ethiopia and a lot ofproblems have been tackled so far,but a lot of challenges are still layingahead."

Fresh product"The main problems", according toPhilipe Veys, "is still the availabilityof the supplying industry. To produ-ce flowers there is need for a lot ofinputs, which at this moment are dif-ficult to find in Ethiopia. A lot oftime of the management still goesinto the organization of getting che-micals, fertilizers and boxes on thefarm."

Another problem is still the freightout of the country and the handlingof the product in Brussels. "A lotcan still be done in this area toimprove which is definitely extreme-ly important for this 'fresh product'.Ethiopian growers can produce avery high quality product, which hasa big demand on the market, but atthis moment it is still quiet a chal-lenge to bring this product correctlyand on time into that market. But,Rome wasn't built in a day eitherand the whole business community,together with the government, willhave to work on improving theEthiopian floral export industrymore."Olij Roses is definitely showingtheir faith in this country by inves-ting in their own nursery and toselect varieties for the Ethiopiangrowers. "You are all welcome tovisit Olij Roses on their boothduring the Hortiflora Ethiopia 2007and you are all welcome to visit OlijRoses on their farm during the openhouse on the 24th of March or anyday by contacting Mr Brook on+251- 911-507229."

Olij Roses is definitely showing their faith in Ethiopia

Olij Rozen is a propagator, bree-der and a grower/exporter ofroses from Ethiopia. This will bethe second time that Olij Rozen isparticipating in Hortiflora Ethi-opia. They will have about 15varieties on display at the show,and more to see at their show-tes-thouse open house on the 24th ofMarch near Debre Zeit.

OLIJ ROSES • 2815 varieties on display at Hortiflora and show-testhouse open house on the 23th and 24th of March

Achterweg 73 1424 PP De Kwakel

Tel. 0297-382929 - Fax 0297-341340info@olijrozen.nl www.olijrozen.nl

Philippe Veys: "You are all welcome to visit Olij Roses on theirbooth during the Hortiflora Ethiopia 2007."

Brook Tekle Wolde will gladly show visitors around. Kokebe: enthousiastic supervisor.

March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS(ADVERTORIAL)

‘RED SKY’

‘ROCKEFELLER’

‘EL TORO’

PARTNERSHIP • 29March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

The Netherlands' Government hascommitted itself to contribute tostrengthening the enabling environ-ment of the horticulture sector inEthiopia through a public-privatepartnership program. The majorEthiopian stakeholders in the horti-cultural sector agreed that that thepartnership is to contribute to:• A competitive, demand driven,

self sustaining and innovative hor-ticulture cluster well connected ininternational networks.

• Environmentally and socially friendly production.

• Human resource development and enlarging the positive spin-offon local, regional and national social development

• Enlarging the positive spin-off onthe local, regional and national economic development.

• A strong international reputationof the Ethiopian Horticulture Cluster

• An institutional framework whichenables the sector to meet (futu-re) market demands and opportu-nities and to operate in a socially and environmentally friendly andbroadly accepted manner.

• Strengthening the cooperation between Ethiopia and the Nether-lands

In close collaboration with the pri-vate and public sector organisationswith facilitation of Wageningen UR,a programme of activities in thepartnership was drawn. Top prioritywas given to training, code of practi-ce and Integrated Pest Managementof which implementation has alre-ady started in. Hereafter some ofthe major activities and its resultsare described.

Practical training facilityThe fast growing industry requires agrowing supply of staff equippedwith relevant and practical technicalknowledge. All stakeholders in thesector acknowledge there is anurgent shortage of technical expe-rienced staff at various levels:owners, managers, administrators,supervisors and attendants. WithinEthiopia currently no floricultureindustry specific practical trainingprogramme exists. In this situation

many commercial companies haveto resort to in-house training fortheir staff individually on an ad-hocbasis. At the end of 2006 a taskforceformulated a strategic plan for theperiod 2007 - 2012 to establishsustainable, industry-led and practi-cally oriented capacity building pro-grammes which facilitate the flori-culture sector development inEthiopia. The plan consists of twocore elements:* Immediate start of short-term trai-ning programs on pest- en pesticidemanagement and post harvestmanagement and marketing.* Development and implementationof an integrated long term trainingand research program for the horti-culture sector (2007-2012). The aimof the long term program is to getinto place industry oriented formaland informal training which is wellconnected to research and develop-

ment activities. Jimma Universitytogether with EHPEA Ministries ofTrade and Industry and Agricultureand Rural Development have for-mulated a proposal which is present-ly being been discussed with NUF-FIC (Netherlands organisation forinternational cooperation in highereducation). A well-experiencedexpatriate training coordinator hasbeen appointed and will commenceactivities in March 2007.

Code of Practice for the floriculturesector EHPEA together with the gover-nment have identified a nationalcode of practice as a prerequisite forreinforcing the reputation ofEthiopian flowers on the interna-tional market. Also will the codeserve as response to local concernsregarding environment and labourconditions in the fast growing flori-

culture industry. To obtain a goodbasis for this process two activitieswere implemented:* an analysis of standards and labelsin markets Ethiopian entrepreneursare active or want to be active.* a field survey of present practicestogether with a rapid environmentalimpact analysis.With this background informationworkshops with growers were con-ducted in November 2006 enFebruary 2007. In these workshopsthe design and content of the code isdeveloped and discussed with Boardof EHPEA. During the processrepresentatives of Ministry of Tradeand Industry, Ministry of SocialAffairs and Labour, Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Develop-ment and Environmental ProtectionAuthority participated in the discus-sions. At time of writing the finaldraft of the code is being prepared.

The Board of EHPEA is very muchcommitted to reach as soon as possi-ble agreement on the code with allparties concerned. Of course thiswill be followed by an intensiveimplementation program, in whichthe earlier mentioned training pro-gram will play an important role.

Capacity building phytosanitaryunitJointly with the Crop ProtectionDepartment (CPD) in the Ministryof Agriculture and Rural Develop-ment (MoARD), EHPEA andDutch experts, a review was done onthe phytosanitary standards and sys-tems in the export-oriented horticul-ture and on the approach and con-formity of the pesticide registrationsystem in Ethiopia in relation tointernational standards and regula-tions. On the basis of the findingsand conclusions of the missionexperts of both countries developeda plan of action that leads to the cre-ation of phytosanitary services thatfacilitate and support the sustainedgrowth and development of theexport-oriented flower and vegeta-ble sector in Ethiopia. To achievethis, the proposed activities willstrengthen phytosanitary capacitiesand sector arrangements pertainingto (a) export inspection and certifi-cation systems, (b) phytosanitarymonitoring and surveillance (inclu-ding diagnostic support) and (c)pesticide registration and controlservices.

Integrated Pest ManagementThere is high commitment for intro-ducing Integrated Pest Management(IPM) in Ethiopian rose production.IPM can make production moreenvironmentally friendly by redu-cing dependency on pesticides, andat the same time reduce the costs ofproduction.To enable this a compre-hensive research & developmentplan has been developed in closecooperation between the ministryof MoARD, the Ethiopian Agri-cultural Research Institute, EHPEAand Wageningen University andResearch Centre. If formalitiesallow, trials will start on 4 farms withcontrolling two-spotted spider mitesthrough the use of biological controlagents. On the experience gainedscaling up and widening of theresearch and development activitiesare planned. Other identified activi-ties have just recently started suchas the identification of competitiveproduct-market combinations forfruits and vegetables; some are yetto be started such as support onrelevant market information serviceand research on suitable locationsfor new floricultural productionsites

For further information on the activi-ties in the partnership programmecontact:EHPEA [ehpea@ethionet.et] or theAgricultural Counsellor at the RoyalNetherlands Embassy [geert.westen-brink@minbuza.nl]

Ethiopian Netherlands Horticulture Partnership in full swing

Joint efforts are needed to minimize the possible negative impact on the natural resource base. Photograph: AlexMulder

Horticulture exports from Ethi-opia are growing very rapidly andare an important element in thecountry's efforts to diversify ex-ports and to contribute directly toeconomic development and pover-ty reduction. Also the sector ena-bles a great number of people toacquire a wide variety of moderntechnical and managerial skills. Allparties agree that joint efforts on awide range of issues are needed tosecure a further well balancedgrowth of the sector and increasethe societal benefits in terms ofemployment and foreign exchangeearnings and to minimize the possi-ble negative impact on the naturalresource base.

MEILLAND INTERNATIONAL FranceTel : 33 (0)4 94 50 03 20Fax : 33 (0)4 94 47 98 29e-mail : msr@meilland.comwww.meilland.com

ODA FLOWERS Pvt. Ltd. CoTel : 251 111 561 572/73Mob. : 251 911 502 153e-mail : odaflowers@ethionet.et

Come and see our latest varieties at ODA

Amalia®

Var. Meizuleros

Friendship®

Var. Meilambra

Moulin Rouge®

Var.Meizicall

Sunlight®

Var. Meinixode

GENERAL INFORMATION • 31March 2007

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

This is the second time such anevent has been held. Expo 2005 washeld in the United Nations Buildingand there was 1000 m2 of exhibitionspace. But now in 2007 they had tomove to the larger space in thedowntown Addis Expo Center. Thespace has doubled in line with thegreat expansion in floriculture goingon in Ethiopia. Not only is the showlarger, but EHPEA has decided tomake it a Biennial Trade Fair.Ethiopia, in many ways, can be com-pared with the rapid development ofthe floriculture industry in Ecuadorthat also took off as a rocket in 1992.Although the circumstances are notexactly the same, there are manycharacteristics that look a like. Toname a few: climate, altitude, lands-cape and proximity of internationalairport in relation to the location ofthe flower farms.The show format in Ethiopia thisyear is unique. In Ethiopia thegovernment has put horticulture, allof horticulture, not just flowers, as avery high priority. So in thisEthiopian exhibition they have alsoinvited producers and exporters oforanges, grapes, avocados, greenbeans, apples, pears and peaches.Production of vegetables and fruitsstill takes place on a modest scale inEthiopia, but is expected to take offsoon.

The objective of the trade fair is tointroduce the growers to the buyersand the buyers to the growers. TheHORTIFLORA EXPO 2007 willnot only serve as a platform forexhibiting suppliers that want tomeet Ethiopian (based) growers, butas well for exhibiting growers whowant to meet visiting internationalbuyers.For this reason farm tours will be

organised as well during the exhibi-tion .One hundred exhibitors are expec-ted at HORTIFLORA EXPO 2007this year, about one third Ethiopian,two thirds from other countries ofwhich one third Dutch.International exhibitors will becoming, amongst others, from Israel,Kenya, South Africa, France,Holland, Germany and Belgium

with suppliers from Italy and Spainas well. Visitors to HORTIFLORAEXPO 2007 are expected to be 80-90% Ethiopian businessmen, butthere will also be industry relatedattendance from Kenya and otherEast African nations. It will be awindow on to production of theseproducts around the world, becausethere will be many foreign compa-nies involved.

For those who did not participate inHORTIFLORA EXPO 2007, butwould like to do so for the next showcontact www.hppexhibitions.com. Ifyou need any personal assistance orif you have any questions or remarksplease contact Melvin Brehler at mel-vin@hpp.nl or call +31-20-6622482.For further information go to theHPP internet site, www.hpp.nl.

The show format in Ethiopia this year is uniqueHortiflora Ethiopia 2007

Hortiflora Ethiopia in 2005.

The Ethiopian Horticultureand Floriculture industry isdeveloping at a very fast pace.The country is expected to beone of the leading exporters ofcut flowers and fresh producewithin just three to five yearsaccording to Mr. TsegayeAbebe, Chairman of EHPEA ,the association that is organi-sing HORTIFLORA EXPO2007, in close cooperation withHPP Exhibitions. The event willtake place from March 21 to 23in the Addis Exhibition Center,Addis Abeba.

Wednesday 21 MarchWorkshop: "How to ensure topquality flowers for your clients?"Post harvest management and coolchain management.Presented by Jeroen van der Hulstof FlowerWatch and Marcel Orie ofVBA.

Time: 11.00-12.30 hrs.Location: cinema on the exhibitionground.Organized by the AgriculturalOffice of the Royal NetherlandsEmbassy.

Thursday March 22Seminar "Future market for flowers,fruits & vegetables".The seminar will be opened by hisExcellency Minister Girma Biru.Sandra Könings, international trendwatcher and marketer will give apresentation.

Time: 14.00 - 16.30 hrs.Location: cinema on the exhibitionground.The seminar is organized by theEthiopian Netherlands HorticulturePartnership.

Friday March 23Workshop "MPS as marketing andmanagement tool". Presented byPiet van 't Hoff of MPS.Workshop "More and better flowersthroug intelligent fertigation".Presented by Ewoud Schurink ofHorticoop.

Time 11.00-12.30 hrs.Location: cinema on the exhibitionground. Organized by the Agricul-tural Office of the Royal Nether-lands Embassy.

Events during Hortiflora E D I T O R I A L A N D A D M I N I S T R AT I O N O F F I C E S

Holland Hortinews/BloemenkrantP.O. Box 3066, 2220 CB Katwijk The NetherlandsTel. : +31 (0)15 213 6764 fax : +31 (0)15 215 8918redactie@bloemenkrant.nlwww.bloemenkrant.nl/www.hortinews.nlWith the cooperation of the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality

editor-in-chief Ron van der Ploegredactie@bloemenkrant.nl

contributing writers Annette van den Berg Nancy Laws

senior designer Piet van der Plaspublisher Uitgeverij Verhagen b.v. Katwijktranslation Technisch vertaalbureau D. van der Lindenphotography Ton Platteel, Maarten Prins, Marc Driessen,

Jeroen van der Hulst and Michel Buitenhuis

SALES OFFICESAccounts manager Erik Heemskerk

advertentie@bloemenkrant.nlHolland Hortinews/BloemenkrantPostbox 3066 - 2220 CB KatwijkThe NetherlandsTel. + 31 (0) 71 402 2901, fax +31 (0) 71 403 2325www.bloemenkrant.nl/www.hortinews.nl

Holland Hortinews is a special edition of Bloemenkrant on the occasion of Hortiflora Ethiopia. Bloemenkrant is a weekly newspaper. No portion of editorial may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher. Publisher is not liable for advertissements using illegaly obtained images. ©Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

H O L L A N D

HORTINEWS

Did you know that……….

• "the Netherlands" and "Holland" are used to describe the same country?

• one quarter of the Netherlands is below sea level?

• the International Court of Justice isat the Peace Palace in The Hague?

• the Netherlands has approximately480 inhabitants per square kilo-metre?

• with only 0.008% of the world's area, the Netherlands is the world'sthird largest agricultural exporter?

• the Netherlands was one of the European Union's founding nations?

• the Netherlands has at least 15,000km of cycle tracks?

• Dutch is also spoken in Belgium,northern France, Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba?

• the Netherlands still has about 1,000 traditional working windmills?

• the Dutch are the tallest people in Europe?

• Amsterdam is entirely built on piles?

• the Netherlands always has a coa-

lition government, which makes it a country of compromises?

• the Netherlands has nearly 1,000 museums, with 42 in Amsterdam alone?

• when your plane arrives at Schiphol, it lands 4.5 metres belowsea level?

• the Netherlands has the highest cable density in Europe?

• Amsterdam has 1,281 bridges?• when Dutch schoolchildren pass

their exams, they hang a Dutch flagand a school bag outside their homes?

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