Does the fair trade deal smell of flowers or manure?

SEVERAL supermarket groups and markets in Ireland import Kenyan flowers and will this week sell thousands of roses from the African country to Irish consumers.

But consumers picking up a St Valentine’s Day bunch for loved ones are unlikely to be aware of the environmental cost Kenya and specifically its second biggest lake, Naivasha, potentially pays for the luxury of cheap red roses.

Retailers, however, claim their trade is responsible and fair even though Kenyan workers are getting under €2 a day on farms.

M&S said it had been importing flowers from Homegrown, one of the largest flower farms at Lake Naivasha, for 20 years.

A spokeswoman said the supermarket helped provide medical screening, training and education among projects to Kenyans on farms.

M&S, which has 17 stores in Ireland, also claimed the carbon footprint in growing flowers in a warm climate and flying them to Europe was lower than growing them in a European green house and freighting them by sea or road. Its flowers from Kenya are labelled with a ‘flown’ symbol.

“We’re committed to ensuring that the very highest social and environmental standards are met within the Kenyan supply chain,” added the supermarket spokeswoman.

M&S Ireland will have sold about 1.5 million roses for the Valentine’s period by the end of this week.

Its stores are selling a dozen red roses from Kenya for €29.

Meanwhile, Tesco Ireland told the Irish Examiner: “The flowers sold in the main come from Holland with some coming from Kenya, Italy, Guatemala, India and Spain. These all arrive through Holland and are then transported by truck.”

The supermarket chain said it was a member of a group which it co-founded called the Ethical Trading Initiative, aimed at preventing the exploitation of foreign workers.