With news that Dutch horticulture investors are meeting with the Ethiopian government officials to appease their security and investment needs and find solutions to the unrests that are taking place around the country, five new Dutch flower investors in addition to local actors are to be given ample lands for the production of flowers.
The foreign investors are expected to be given duty privileges to import machineries that are vital to the production of flowers and are expected to show resources enough to satisfy the financial requirements of their investments while local investors will needs to provide 15 percent of their investment, the balance provided by local financial institutions.
The transfer of land is to be completed in mere months.
The lands are worth 5,000 hectares and are said to be used for horticultural development exclusively and create needed low-end jobs in areas such as Hawassa, Alege, Bahir Dar, Arba Minch, Humbo, Sile and Bir Sheleko. The largest land rendered is in Hawassa where most of the Dutch flower investors are located, including the controversial Sher Ethiopia that have wedged a long-standing accusation of low pay and poor working condition.
According to Adugna Debela (PhD), this is expected to yield much needed economical successes, including the creation of 40,000 jobs for young people. “If local investors meet 15 percent of the investment capital, they will get access to 85 percent loan from financial institution, he said.
In addition to coffee, Ethiopia benefits from the exportation of fresh-cut flowers as a way to bring needed foreign currencies to its public coffers as it builds needed infrastructures throughout the nation.
Ethiopian Airlines widely accessible destination to Europe, Asia and to North America has made the nation an attractive for foreign investors to invest in its booming flower industry, with low pay and little restrictions.
