Flowers

Kenya

Kenya is the main producer of cut flowers in Africa. On international holidays, the country delivers flowers to the rest of the world. To ensure that, greenhouse parks with more than 50,000 flowers per hectare have emerged near the capital Nairobi. The water level of the adjacent lake has decreased as the flower trade has increased. Water shortage in the city, soil contamination by sewage and pesticides are the consequences that people and animals are experiencing in this region of central Kenya.

Due to miserable wages and working conditions, the flower farms have seen regular strikes in recent years. At Twiga Roses, one of the largest companies in the region, hundreds of workers dropped their tools in the summer of 2015, demanding better wages, housing and protection against pesticides and disease. Security forces intervened, there were brawls. Instead of meeting the demands, about a thousand workers were dismissed.