As the shifting of the world’s economies affects the international production of flowers, Ethiopia is taking an active role in the development of their flower industry. Being the number four producer of roses for international distribution, Ethiopia exported over $300 million of roses in the fiscal year 2014.

The Produce News recently interviewed Yassin Legesse Johnson, managing director at Sunrise Flowers in Debreziet, Ethiopia, and David Kaplan, president at All Above Flowers in Barrington, RI, to discuss their partnership in expanding the distribution of Ethiopian roses to the United States and Canada.

The Produce News: Yassin, will you tell our readers a little about your farm, its history, size and production?

Yassin Legesse Johnson: The farm has been operational since 2006. We are presently growing about 16 hectares, and by October we’ll be up to 19 hectares. In 2014 (with 13.5 hectares in production) we produced 22 million rose stems. Presently 70 percent of our production goes to Europe, 20 percent goes to the United States, 5 percent to Canada and 5 percent to other countries. We employ approximately 450 workers, of which 80 percent are women. The farm holds a number of certifications, including Fair Trade International.

TPN: What are your competitive advantages over other roses farms serving the United States market?

YLJ: I think we have several advantages for our customers.

We grow both standard roses and spray roses.

We are in an ideal growing climate for roses. Our proximity to the equator allows us to have a shorter growing cycle, resulting in excellent production throughout the year as well as the peak holiday seasons.

We are a socially responsible and environmentally conscious farm. We are European approved for the MPS-A and MPS-SQ [MPS is a series of European certifications required by many European customers] and we’ve just received our Fair Trade certification. We are the first native Ethiopian flower grower to have floral Fair Trade certification and we know that’s very important for some of the clients in the U.S. and Canada.

One of our more important advantages is that we can deliver our flowers right to our customers’ doors in some areas in the northeastern U.S. in 36–48 hours of shipping from Ethiopia.

TPN: Tell us a little more about how you can get your roses to customers in such a short time.

David Kaplan: We have been working with the Ethiopian Airlines to ship our flowers on direct flights to Washington, DC, Los Angeles and Toronto. In Washington, DC, we have a trucking company that picks the flowers up on arrival and then delivers them to our customers’ doors.

YLJ: I think Ethiopia is probably the only country out of the four major growing areas that actually owns the airlines. It’s a national airline, a government-owned company, but it’s run independently. There are no subsidies. The Ethiopian government is very actively supporting this development and has been working with both the airline and us to make this work.

DK: The involvement from the government is unlike any other nation that I‘ve ever visited. Colombia, Ecuador, the U.S., nobody is as involved in helping the workers like the Ethiopian government is; they are really involved with everything. They start right at the land, helping with investment and transportation, all the different things that they are involved with makes for success. That’s why their industry is growing there.

TPN: What are your plans for growth?

DK: Our goal is at some point to send a truck from Washington, DC, to any point within about 12 hours, kind of like the Canadians are doing from the Toronto area. They are going to Chicago, Washington, DC, Boston and New York, the “Rosa Floras” of the world. That’s our goal — to use Washington, DC, as a hub. We have already started with flights to Los Angeles. From L.A. we can truck to San Francisco, Oregon, Seattle, Vancouver and Phoenix. We even have interest in Hawaii. We’ve sent sample shipments to Hawaii. We do it from Washington, DC — there’s a nonstop flight everyday from Dulles to Hawaii — there’s a Costco, a Whole Foods, retailers and wholesalers in Hawaii and it’s an interesting market.