Going Local and Fair Trade

Just came back from my trip to Kenya. This time my goal was to meet the local people, to feel the spirit of people, flowers, nature and country. To connect with the growers in our ROOTS concept it’s important to keep the focus. We want to bring more than good quality roses… ROOTS is a way of life!

The real story from Kenya…..high quality roses ensures social & financial sustainability.
In our new concept ROOTS® we sell flowers to florists in Europe. I’ve done research on fair trade and will give you my opinion:

1. you have the company with the name Fairtrade Co, they are involved with charities and funds to help people. This has nothing to do with fair trade.

2. Fair trade is fair when everybody in the chain get paid for his work. To know exactly how we can prove transparency of our flowers I had a meeting with Jane of Kenya Flower Council. KFC is a private company and owned by the growers. Since 2008 they became professional through accreditation by Sanas. They audit KFC and check if they follow the national rules.
KFC checks on environment, wages, sustainability, standards, health facilities, local rules, contribution of social funds.
In Kenya 80 procent of the growers is member of Kenya Flower Council. When you are member they audit you once or twice a year.
The KFC certification starts with KS 1758 and stands for Kenya national standards for good Agricultural practice.
KFC silver certification is fair trade together with Global GAP, KS1758, Tesco – TN10

My conclusion: Kenya flowers are fair trade when the grower is a KFC member with at least KS1758 certification.

It is also possible to become a KFC gold member. This is up to the grower himself when he wants to pay for his employees kids funds and other extra’s. It is not right to make people dependent by ‘giving’ them everything. You have to learn the people to think for themselves and take responsibility for their own lives and for their families.

You can read more about KFC on their website : www.kenyaflowercoucil.org