• Date: Friday, December 17, 2010 Categories: Biodiversity products, EU

    Certificates of exported plan origin products are checked systematically at EU borders, while physical checks are performed at a lower frequency. But, the frequency of these physical checks is increasing in order to determine the possible presence of substances that may pose a risk to human and animal health, such as aflatoxins in nuts and pesticides in fruit and vegetables.
    Read more »

  • Date: Friday, November 26, 2010 Categories: Cut Flowers, Ethiopia, India, News

    Growing flowers and other agri commodities in East African nation of Ethiopia appears to be catching up with more and more Indian entrepreneurs. After Karuruti Global made headlines for getting control over hectares of land in the country for its agri business, there are others who are slowly building their presence like Neha International Ltd. Read more »

  • Date: Saturday, May 29, 2010 Categories: CSR, Cut Flowers, Ethiopia, Marketing, ProVerde projects, Training

    Following the success of the previous training activities and upon request of the Ethiopian flower sector, CBI organised four Master Classes as a key activity of CBI’s 2009 floricultural training programme in Ethiopia. The programme was developed in close cooperation with EHPEA and focused on different aspects of flower export marketing.

    In the course of the Master Class training series, participants wrote a concise export marketing plan. The structure of the export marketing plan was used as the framework for the special topics covered in the training programme: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), post-harvest and logistical requirements, market research in the flower business, getting the best price on the auction, and internal and external communication and client orientation. Read more »

  • Date: Friday, March 26, 2010 Categories: Kenya, News

    The country’s foreign exchange from horticulture dropped 2.8 per cent from KSh 73.7 billion in 2008 to KSh 71.6 billion last year.

    According to the Daily Nation, produce for export fell due to drought and a drop in market demand for some products due to recession in Europe, Kenya’s main market.
    Relative to 2008, the combined effects of these two caused an overall fall of 14.8 per cent in the quantity of exports. Read more »

  • Date: Thursday, February 18, 2010 Categories: Guatemala, ProVerde projects, Training

    Below you find a selection of photos of the Workshop External and Internal Customer Orientation for Guatemalan growers of flowers, foliage, plants and young plants. The two-day workshop was held on Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 February 2010.

    The CBI training activity was organised together with Agexport, the Guatemalan Exporters Association.

    Read more »

  • Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 Categories: Guatemala, News, ProVerde projects

    A two-day training programme for flower growers in Guatemala on ‘External and internal customer orientation’ is scheduled for early February. The training programme is an initiative of CBI and Agexport and will be carried out by Milco Rikken of ProVerde and Maarten van Schie of OTV Wageningen.

    The objective of the training is to improve the knowledge and skills of the participants in understanding customer requirements as well as the European market channels and requirements. After the training, participants are informed about present market conditions and developments. They are able to translate and implement market information, client expectations and feedback to the different levels in the farms. This is done in relation to the export of flowers, foliage and plant (materials) to the EU. Read more »

  • Date: Friday, January 1, 2010 Categories: Cut Flowers, Egypt, Kenya, ProVerde projects, South Africa, Training, Uganda

    CBI’s Export Development Programmes (EDP) for cut flowers are designed to help entrepreneurs in selected African countries to adapt to EU market requirements in order to create conditions for market entry or market consolidation. ProVerde has been involved in many parts of the programme.

    Each country programme combined different elements: technical assistance, training in export marketing and management and market entry assistance. In Egypt for example, the programme mainly focused on logistic cooperation and certification. In Kenya, CBI was of the opinion that there is enough knowledge available in the country itself to help to companies to develop their product quality, so instead the programme focused on developing export marketing (including a market tour to the Netherlands), HRM skills of the middle managers, and cooperation between the farms. In Uganda, improvement of product quality and farm management were the main issues, next to marketing training. Read more »

  • Date: Friday, January 1, 2010 Categories: Cut Flowers, Egypt, Kenya, Marketing, ProVerde projects, Training, Uganda

    During a series of market tours organised by ProVerde for CBI, companies were invited for a one-week market tour in The Netherlands.

    When having the desire to export to the EU, it is essential for exporters to understand how the market operates. Who is buying flowers and what does that buyer expect from it? What happens with price and market position if this expectation is not fulfilled?

    The market tours generally consisted of a combination of company visits and supporting workshop trainings. Read more »

  • Date: Monday, December 7, 2009 Categories: Cut Flowers, Ethiopia, ProVerde projects, Training

    Below you find a selection of photos of the fourth Master Class Flower Export that was held last Thursday 3 and Friday 4 December in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The training activity was organised as part of the CBI/EHPEA training programme for flower exporters in Ethiopia.

    Read more »

  • Date: Thursday, November 26, 2009 Categories: News, Tanzania

    The Tanzania Horticultural Association (Taha) will set up a processing and packaging facility at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA). The airport is the main exit point for export of horticultural products, mainly cut flowers, to markets abroad. Read more »