Earnings from Kenya’s horticulture sector soared to 63 per cent last year, overtaking tourism as the country’s leading foreign exchange earner, according to allAfrica.com.
Kenya’s fruit, vegetable and flower industry earned Sh70.3 billion (£574 million) last year, according to the Central Bank, while tourism earned Sh65.4bn.
Horticulture employs 2m Kenyans directly, 80 per cent of them small-scale farmers, according to the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Association (FPEAK).
“Growth in this sub-sector was buoyed by good export prices of the key export commodities, as export values increased faster than increase in volume of exports,” said Central Bank in its monthly economic review for February.
Horticultural officials said the industry was not overly affected by violence sparked following the country’s election at the start of this year.
A large proportion of the earnings came from flowers, which accounted for 64 per cent.
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