Kenya’s exporters now find themselves at the mercy of a conflict unfolding thousands of miles away. Each delayed flight, each rerouted cargo path, quietly erodes a system built on precision and speed. What begins as a geopolitical shock in the Middle East ends, days later, in discarded stems on farms outside Nairobi, in shrinking paychecks for workers, and in mounting anxiety across an industry that has long been one of the country’s most dependable sources of foreign exchange.
On the cool highland plains around Naivasha, where rows of roses stretch beneath greenhouse plastic, the damage is not always visible at first glance. But for Kenya’s flower exporters, the losses are mounting quickly, carried not in wilted petals alone but in grounded cargo and disrupted trade routes.
Since the outbreak of conflict in the Center East, Kenya’s floriculture sector has lost at least $4.8 million, according to the Kenya Flower Council, as air cargo disruptions ripple through one of the country’s most time-sensitive export industries.
Clement Tulezi, the council’s chief executive, said the losses stem from delays and rising freight costs caused by rerouted flights and reduced cargo capacity. “Of this, approximately 2.1 million dollars represent flowers that perished before reaching the market, while 2.7 million dollars reflect reduced prices resulting from delayed arrivals and compromised quality,” Tulezi said.
The numbers reflect a deeper vulnerability. Kenya’s flowers, among its top foreign exchange earners, depend on tightly synchronized logistics. When flights are delayed or diverted, even by hours, shipments can lose value or spoil entirely. Farms that rely heavily on Middle Eastern markets have seen revenues fall by as much as 75 percent, Tulezi said, warning that weekly losses could surpass $1.3 million if disruptions persist.
The Center East is not only a destination market but also a critical transit hub. “Five Gulf countries alone contribute approximately 13.35 percent of export value, estimated at 722.9 million dollars, while Gulf-based airlines carry a significant share of global air cargo, particularly for highly perishable products such as flowers,” Tulezi said.
The strain is already visible at farm level. At Isinya Flower Farms, about 56 kilometers south of Nairobi, daily exports have fallen sharply. “Previously we used to export 450,000 stems per day and currently we are doing about 150,000 to 200,000 stems a day. So we are discarding almost 50 percent,” said Anantha Kumar, the farm’s marketing manager.
The Center East typically accounts for about 30 percent of exports from the farm and roughly 15 percent nationally, while Europe absorbs close to 70 percent. Yet even shipments to Europe have been affected, as flights that once passed through Gulf hubs are rerouted, delayed or canceled.
Freight costs have surged alongside the disruption. Kumar said prices have nearly doubled, eroding already thin margins and making some shipments commercially unviable.
The impact has been swift and cumulative. “The Center East remains a very important market and the disruption has an immediate impact on us. We see a reduction in movement, delays in movement of produce and longer routes and pricing is really high,” Tulezi said. “Last week we were at $5.8 per kilo which is the highest we’ve had in the last 10 years and a pricing like that is unsustainable.”
The industry estimates that growers have already lost more than $4.2 million worth of flowers in recent weeks alone. “About $2.1 million is attributed to lack of flights and the rest due to delays. If this goes on we are looking at about $1.8 million in losses every week,” Tulezi added.
For a sector that earned $835 million in export revenue in 2024 and supports up to half a million jobs, the stakes extend far beyond balance sheets. Growers warn that a prolonged disruption could echo the economic shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, when global supply chains seized and farms were forced to cut production.
Industry leaders are now urging the Kenyan government to step in, including by facilitating more direct cargo flights to Europe to bypass disrupted Center Eastern routes. Without such interventions, they warn, one of Kenya’s most reliable export industries risks a prolonged period of decline.
For now, in the greenhouses, the roses continue to bloom on schedule. It is everything that happens after they are cut that has become uncertain.
By Mohd Hassan, edited by Faustine Ngila (Impact Newswire).
David Goldblatt (South Africa)
Most Famous Photo: His extensive body of work documenting life under and after apartheid, such as “A white child, black nanny and her charge on a park bench” (1975) or “Johannesburg, 1972” (various scenes of everyday life in a segregated city).
Short Bio: David Goldblatt (1930-2018) was a seminal South African photographer renowned for his incisive and nuanced documentation of the social and political landscape of his country. His work, primarily in black and white, explored the complex realities of apartheid and its aftermath, capturing the subtle ways in which power, race, and class shaped daily life.
electric player
Fun South African Fact: South Africa in size is three times the size of Texas and five times the size of Japan.
Trixie
Fun South African Fact: Table Mountain in Cape Town is believed to be one of the oldest mountains in the world and one of the planet’s 12 main energy centres, radiating magnetic, electric or spiritual energy.