ethiopia - zoekresultaten

2016 has been a very tough year for Esmeralda Farms. Last June, Peter Ullrich, founder and driving force behind one of the largest floricultural companies in the world, passed away. In August, their farm in Ethiopia was attacked by rebels. Present owner Clarisse Ullrich decided subsequently that Esmeralda would cease their activities in Africa. And the office in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands, was shut down as well. In the beginning of December, Clarisse Ullrich tells us her story. “What would you do? We lost millions in Ethiopia. Would you invest another couple million to repair the damage, knowing that the same thing might happen again? Probably not!”

Esmeralda’s farm wasn’t totally destroyed. That’s what Tewodros Zewdie, the executive director of the Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association, says. According to him, the damage isn’t too bad and the company should be able to start up again.

This year’s supply of flowers from Ethiopia to FloraHolland, is more or less the same as last year. Despite the fact that companies were attacked by rebels, there was only a slight decrease. But the riots are slowing down the expected growth for the next few years.

Rebels destroyed several flower farms in Ethiopia last week. In Ziway, where the largest rose production site in Ethiopia is situated, everything is still under control.

"Kenya is more of a Wild West than Ethiopia" is what news agency Bloomberg wrote down at a nursery in Ethiopia on the 24th of August. The reason for the report were the riots at the end of 2015. Only a week after Bloomberg published its report, the next incident happened. Ten horticultural companies outside the town of Bahir Dar were confronted by population groups that disagree with the government. Esmeralda Farms was hit worst. A ten million investment literally went up in smoke. The company closed down.

The entire company of Esmeralda Farms in Ethiopia has been knocked down because of arson. CEO Loui Hooyman estimates that 10 millions of investments have been gone up in smoke.