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Newsletter 13

Hard Facts of Current Status and Prospects of Floriculture Investment in Ethiopia

 Ethiopia's diversified agro-climatic conditions makes it suitable for the production of a broad range of fruits, vegetables and flowers including grapes, apples, citrus, mango, avocado, guava, tomato, asparagus, sweet melon and cut flowers.  Ethiopia is believed to be center of diversity and center of origin for various flowering plants.  Cut flower and vegetable production are fast growing export businesses in the country. 

The volume of export of these products is growing and showing great promise as hard currency earner.  As a result of due attention given by the government to this sector and the unparalleled advantages that Ethiopia has in this sector than any other producer, a substantial number of investors have started investing in the country.

Investors are attracted by an improved investment code, a five year tax holiday, duty-free import of machinery, and easy access to bank loans and land acquisition.  Due to these and other incentives, Ethiopia's flower business is booming at high speed and could one day overtake coffee, its main export commodity.

Currently 54 farms are in operation over 1,708.15 ha. of land which is allocated for floriculture in the central region alone.  The types of flowers in production include Rose, Gypsophilia, Hypericum, Limonium, Chrysanthemum, static, carnation and pot plants.  The investment created employment opportunity for 16,626 workers (directly) and 66,504 others (indirectly).

Looking at the share of Ethiopian flower Export out of the total export (USD) in 2001 - 2005, it showed a marked rise from 660,000 in 2001 to 12,645,000.  The flower export grew from about 5 percent in 2001 to 87 percent in 2005, while the share of flower export increased from 0.5 percent in 2001 to 1.59 in 2005.

 The diverse agro-ecological conditions for all year round production, the abundant cheep and easily trained labour, proximity to EU and Middle East markets with strong government support make the prospect and development potential of the investment very high.   

Table 3: Prospect of Floriculture Investment in Ethiopia