Kenyan herb growers relish the sweet smell of profits
Most of the growers who depended heavily on traditional crops such as maize and beans have set their sights on Europe which seems to have an insatiable appetite for herbs such as basil.
For Simon Andys, who is the founder Premier Seed, one of the companies involved in growing and exporting basil in Kenya, the future looks bright as consumption of this herb in Europe grows by the day.
“Basil is not very common in the Kenyan cuisine and as much as we grow it here, the local market takes approximately 10% of our produce. The rest of it is exported, with Netherlands being our number one consumer, the rest is shared mostly between Denmark, France and Germany.” explains Andys.
Currently, the local price for one kilogramme of basil is $2 while the same goes for a minimum of $4.5 in the international market.
According to Andys, Premier seeds, which grows its own basil in 20 greenhouses, also works with smallholder growers who have to undergo training on how to grow the herb to the standards of the international market.
“Seventy percent of our produce is sourced from small scale growers who we train first on quality and the required standards. We harvest every ten days and a typical greenhouse measuring 8 by 30 metres produces on average up to 100kgs of basil,” explains Andys.
According to Andys, Premier seeds is set to raise its exports from 2 tons to 6 tons a month as the demand continues to grow.
“Our monthly income from the export market is roughly $800 per greenhouse and from what we have seen this is set to grow as we are set to increase our volume, right now we are only concentrating on the sweet aroma three variety as it is also the most preferred in the European market,” explains Andys. "But we are also growing other herbs such as chives, mint and coriander."
For more information:
Tel: +254 733 468 574
info@premierseed.co.ke
www.premierseeds.com