•CEO Clement Tulezi said 80 per cent of the farms have reopened and re-hired workers who were laid off due to the Covid-19 related lockdowns.
•Hivos donated the food under its Women@work campaign, which has been working to improve labour conditions in farms.
Kenya Revenue Authority has paid flower farms Sh7 billion in tax refunds, out of the Sh10 billion they demanded in April to keep them afloat, the Kenya Flower Council has confirmed.
CEO Clement Tulezi said 80 per cent of the farms have reopened and re-hired workers who were laid off due to the Covid-19 related lockdowns.
“In two months time KRA should clear the remaining 30 per cent if there is no dispute. This will help us alleviate the challenges of liquidity,” he told the Star.
In late April, most farms affiliated to KFC had sent home nearly all of their 200,000 workers, leaving a few to harvest and dispose of their flowers.
At that time, the Kenya Flower Council estimated that the sector lost around $300,000 a day due to the economic impact of the pandemic.
“Workers are now being readmitted to farms, but because of social distancing, farms are also learning to be more efficient with about 18 persons per hectare,” Tulezi said at on Tuesday Nairobi’s Industrial area where he received gift hampers from Hivos East Africa, to support about 5,000 workers.
Hivos donated the food under its Women@work campaign, which has been working to improve labour conditions in farms.
Henry Wera, the project officer, said this was the second dispatch.
“The project began in May with food packages and mobile money transfers worth approximately Sh8 million,” he said.
The money transfer was sent to 2,000 workers, each receiving Sh2,500 via Mpesa as a relief measure due to disruption of income as a result of the pandemic.
“Our focus is to support further resilience to minimise the loss of livelihoods. The good news is that 80 per cent of them have resumed work, although some are still working intermittently,” he said.
The rations were donated by Hivos and its partners, who include the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Femnet, Haki Mashinanai and Ufadhili Trust.
Wera called for improved efficiency in farms and diversification of markets.
“Can we look at China, USA and other new markets. We also need diversification of products. The flower sector took a negative turn but there was higher demand for food products,” he said.
The devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is captured in a study Hivos published in June.
"The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted women workers in the horticulture sector socially, economically and psychologically - with the effect spiralling to their homes," the study says.
The study, titled 'Impact of Covid-19 on Women Workers in the Horticulture Sector in Kenya’ warns that further downsizing is imminent incase of new lockdowns.
"The layoffs, salary cuts, and unpaid leaves were effected in contravention of labour laws – with neither notice nor consultation," the study says.
Women represent 60 to 70 per cent of all flower workers.
"The waning job security agonises thousands of women workers and subjects them to untold anxiety and mental anguish," it says.
The 2019 Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics says cut flowers earned Sh113 billion in foreign exchange in 2018.