The Ethiopian Horticulture Development Agency is testing the draft directive, changing the unit of measurement of exported flowers to weight from stem count, on selected exporters. The testing will be conducted for two weeks as of the 11th of November before the draft directive is passed.
The test aims to identify problem areas in implementing the new directive, explains a letter sent to the seven exporter selected for testing from Desalegn Assefa Director of the Marketing, Research, Study, & Quality Follow-up Directorate.
The test will be conducted alongside the current stem-based measurement to compare the difference between the two systems according to the letter. Companies selected for testing are expected to document the weight and the number of stems of their exports for the testing period.The companies involved in the test will also be required to employ standard packaging certified by the Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise responsible for laboratory testing and certification.
The seven companies were selected on the basis of the types of flowers they grow, the altitude at which their farms are found and the destination of their exports according to an agency source.
Sher Ethiopia was selected to represent lowland farms while Linssen Rose and Ethio Magical Flower represent high land farms and Dugda Floriculture, ZK Flower, Joy Tec Tinaw Business and Ethio Highland were reselected as representative of middle altitude flower farms.
The new directive was drafted in response to the less than expected performance of the horticulture sector. The new directive will also change the average sale price per stem to 0.10 US dollars for exporters selling their product on the direct market.
Source: Addis Fortune
