Best Practices: Carzan Flowers in the Spotlight
Floralife’s Spotlight Program is a series of articles about where cut flowers come from, the people who make it happen, and their floral best practices. Today, we check in on Kenyan grower Carzan Flowers Ltd. They shared with us the beauty of their flowers, as well as the sustainability, employee enrichment and community involvement efforts that have landed them in the Spotlight!
Founded in 1992, Carzan Flowers is located in Kenya’s Rift Valley. The farm specializes in “summer flowers grown in choice places with microclimates for best harvest.” These include solidago, carnation, hypericum and statice.
The farm’s high altitude allows for slower growth resulting in very high quality standard carnations with big flower heads. The soil and climate also produce intense colors of Hypericum, Solidago and Statice. Specialization in summer flowers gives the farm an advantage at the auctions in Europe, where Carzan sends their flowers to satisfy the growing need for fillers.
Best Practices: Sustainability
Carzan uses only certified and approved chemicals and fertilizers, and works to limit the amounts used when possible. As for water management, water from bore holes is stored in reservoirs, and applied to flowers using accurate drip irrigation. Waste management, recycling and homemade compost are all on the agenda at Carzan Flowers.
Best Practices: Community Involvement
Establishing a growing operation in a rural environment has allowed Carzan to make a significant impact on the community by providing jobs for 1,400 people. This has led to further economic growth and development in the region surrounding the farm.
The farm supports the surrounding communities by building classrooms, supplying piped water, and environmental cleaning programs. Carzan was also a sponsor and organizer of local events surrounding World AIDS Day, raising awareness among the staff and the neighboring community.
Best Practices: Employee Enrichment
Carzan Flowers also offers a liberal nursing-mother program for its employees, which can be a rarity in the developing world. Mothers on staff are permitted to nurse their infants for one hour during their workday up until the child is 10 months old.
Floralife is happy to shine the Spotlight on the best practices of Carzan Flowers. And this is just some of the story. Check out the rest on the Floralife Spotlight page, and visit them at www.carzankenya.com!