Flower farms across the country have embarked on job cuts due to the rising cost of fuel coupled by the Middle East crisis that has adversely affected shipping of flowers.
According to the Agricultural Employers Association (AEA), the affected farms had involved the redundancy process due to the rising cost of production.
This came as it emerged that cost of production in the multi-billion sector had risen by over 40 percent thanks to the fuel crisis coupled by newly introduced levies.
The association chief executive Wesley Siele termed the current situation in the sector as worrying as farmers continue to grapple with emerging challenges.
He said that the failure to pay VAT refunds which stood at over KSh10B coupled with rising farm inputs like fertilizer had adversely affected the agriculture sector.
“We have received letters requesting for us to process the redundancies in the farms and this is not a time when things should be taken like business as usual,” he said.
Addressing the press in Naivasha after the association AGM, Siele further said that they would be engaging parliament on the upcoming finance bill and the fuel prices.
On his part, Patrick Mbugua, the general manager Wildlife Roses said that the cost of production has risen by over 40 percent against stagnant flower prices.
Mbugua blamed this to escalation of taxes and levies in the industry, a move that had affected expansion in the sector that employs over 200,000 people.
“The price of calcium nitrate which is one of the key components in the sector has doubled in the last three months since the Iran war started and this affects production,” he said.
Mbugua further noted that despite the High Court declaring cess levies as illegal, some counties were charging farmers charges on horticultural products.
The CEO Redlands Roses Disha Copreaux questioned the recent introduction of a unique consignment reference (UCR) fee and KEBs levy.
“These two levies do not add any value to our sector and come at a time when farmers are facing so many challenges including VAT refunds and his fuel prices,” she said.
The Chairman AEA Kirimi Mpungu noted that if there was an enabling environment, the farmers and the exporters were prepared to do the rest.
“Let’s go back to where we were 10 years ago in terms of taxes and levies and we will be able to manage the rest as farmers and growers,” he said.
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