Blooms of abuse: Why Kenya's flower exports risk EU ban

In the cool, high-altitude fields surrounding Lake Naivasha, millions of vibrant roses are cultivated, destined to symbolise love and celebration on European dinner tables.

But for workers like Mary Wanja* (not her real name) who nurture and harvest these blooms, the reality is far from rosy, a new groundbreaking report reveals.

The Human Rights Impact Assessment on cut flower production in Kenya and Ethiopia, commissioned by German discount giant Lidl and conducted by independent risk management firm LRQA, paints a shocking picture of systemic abuse and exploitation festering within an industry that exports billions of shillings’ worth of beauty and love annually.

The report’s findings, reviewed by The Standard, are so disturbing that they back a growing global movement to ban from international markets products like those from Kenya linked to such human rights abuses, aligning with new regulations like the EU’s Forced Labour Ban.

The assessment, based on site visits to four Fairtrade-certified farms in Kenya and interviews with over 1,500 workers and stakeholders, and corroborated by The Standard, uncovers a culture of widespread fear, particularly for women.

Fairtrade is a global movement and certification system that promotes better prices, decent working conditions, and fair terms for farmers and workers in developing countries.

The Standard’s efforts to reach out to the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) and the Kenya Flower Council (KFC) by press time were futile. KFC, the umbrella body for growers, declined to comment, while our queries to Cotu went unanswered by press time.

“Good evening. Note KFC and Fairtrade are all market schemes. We are partners, also competitors, in the international market. I am, therefore, afraid I cannot comment on a news article that quotes certification by Fairtrade,” said KFC Chief Executive Clement Tulezi via text.

Nearly half (46 per cent) of surveyed workers reported experiencing or witnessing sexual harassment in the past year, including unwanted physical contact and sexual remarks from supervisors and co-workers.

At one farm, the figure skyrocketed to a staggering 78 per cent.

The report corroborates these findings with desktop research, citing instances where female workers who failed to meet punishingly high targets were forced to either finish the work unpaid the next day or offer sexual favours to keep their jobs.

“Workers commonly operate under threats, retaliation, intimidation, and fear of losing their jobs,” the report states, indicating a climate where speaking out is perilous.

Beyond harassment, the assessment found troubling indicators of forced labour. 

On some farms, over half of the workers reported they could not freely exit the site or their dormitories during off-hours.

A significant minority, up to 15 per cent at one location, reported difficulty accessing their own identity documents, a key indicator of forced labour, as it restricts freedom of movement.

Kenya is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of cut flowers, an industry valued at over $1 billion (Sh129 billion) and a critical source of foreign exchange.

Yet, the workers who form the backbone of this economic success see little of its bounty, the report says.

The report, for instance, highlights a major gap between legal minimum wages and a living wage.

In the agricultural sector, minimum wages range from Sh7,997 to Sh14,427 per month.

This pales in comparison to the estimated living wage for the Naivasha flower-growing region, which was set at Sh32,488 in 2022.

Overall, 54 per cent of surveyed workers across the visited farms said their wages could not cover basic living expenses. At two farms, this figure jumped to over 80 per cent.

Community members like shopkeepers and grocers described a relentless cycle of debt, where workers borrow to cover daily expenses, repay upon receiving their monthly wage, and immediately borrow again.

To survive, many workers endure long commutes from substandard housing, with some walking or taking overcrowded transportation for up to 90 minutes each way.

The report notes that for the predominantly female workforce, these journeys are often undertaken in groups as a safety precaution.

The Lidl-LRQA report identifies systemic failures that perpetuate these conditions. Inaccurate timekeeping, including the use of faulty facial recognition software and manually recorded timesheets signed infrequently by workers, leads to unpaid overtime.

During peak demand periods like Valentine’s Day, workers reported being forced to work through lunch breaks while being illegally clocked out.

Grievance mechanisms were found to be “non-existent or severely lacking,” with workers afraid to approach management.

The report also points to an increasing trend of short-term seasonal contracts, which deny workers job security, annual pay raises, and legally mandated benefits, making them easier to control and harder to unionise.

The report was commissioned by Lidl to understand the risks in its supply chain and ensure compliance with new due diligence laws like the German Supply Chain Act and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

Its backer, Lidl, is a retail behemoth with over 12,600 stores, seeking to mitigate its sustainability challenges.

Analysts and flower workers say the findings now serve as a powerful indictment, lending weight to the EU’s impending ban on products made with forced labour.

By documenting conditions that align with forced labour indicators and severe human rights abuses, flower workers in Naivasha told The Standard that the report effectively makes the case for excluding violators from the lucrative European market.

In response, the report recommends that Lidl move beyond mere certification and price-based sourcing.

It urges European retailers and suppliers to join industry initiatives like the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative, push for multi-year contracts with suppliers to improve stability, and explicitly require farms to adopt anti-harassment policies and robust audit protocols.

For Kenya, whose flower industry employs hundreds of thousands directly and indirectly, the message is clear.

“That the international market’s patience for exploitation woven into its bouquets is withering. The sweet scent of success must no longer mask the bitter thorns of abuse endured by those who plant, pick, and pack the nation’s iconic roses,” said a lawyer who is representing flower workers at a Naivasha farm and who sought anonymity to speak freely in an interview with The Standard.

“The viability of this multi-billion-shilling industry may now depend on rooting out the injustices it has long cultivated.”