The company has leased a 100 ha land at Wenjeta and Wegelta kebeles, 20 Km from Bahir Dar in the Amhara Regional State. Currently Fontana, which has hired 1,300 employees, is clearing land for growing roses and for warehouse construction. It will exclusively grow different cut rose varieties, starting on 65 ha, with a target revenue of USD $95.9 million a year. 

The flowers will be exported directly from the Bahir Dar airport, which, in its recent restructuring, has added cold storerooms, said Mekonen Hailu, of the Ethiopian Horticulture Development Agency (EHDA).

Despite the addition of these facilities and the suitable ecology and water resource of the city for horticulture, there was imbalance in the investment flow with most horticulture companies concentrating in the Oromia Regional State, due to proximity to Bole International Airport. Hailu added that the direct cargo flight from the Bahir Dar airport would attract more investment to the Amhara regional state.

The company will export to the traditional auction market in the Netherlands, but it also has other direct markets in the Middle East and the Netherlands, which is rare in the industry, explained Daniel Tereffe, Horticulture Investment Project Supervision & Support officer at Bahir Dar branch of the Agency.

Four horticulture companies are already in operation in Bahir Dar. In addition to Fontana, three other India-based companies have acquired investment licenses and land to engage in the horticulture sector. 90 ha of land has been allocated to the companies with expected export revenue of 4.1 billon Br, Tereffe said.

The horticulture export market is one of the largest foreign exchange earners in Ethiopia. In the fiscal year 2013/2014 around USD $245.4 million has been obtained from the export of 199 million flower stems. This was an increase from the $212 million export earnings, obtained in the fiscal year of 2011/2012.

The largest flower export market is the Netherlands, which accounts for an 83.7% share in the quantity, and 83.4% share in value of the export earnings. Following the Netherlands, are Germany and Saudi Arabia accounting for a 4.3% and 2.5% share of the export earnings, respectively.

With the number of companies engaged in the flower exports currently reaching ninety, more than 1,442 ha of land are under flower cultivation countrywide. The horticulture sector in general has developed above 12,552 ha of land, according to data obtained from Ethiopian Horticulture Development Agency (EHDA).

Source:  Addis HAN, via intracen.org