aak-GROW, KFC Partner to Advance Sustainable Floriculture

Earlier this month, the Agriculture and Agrochemical Association of Kenya’s aak-GROW and the Kenya Flower Council (KFC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen responsible pest control product stewardship, environmental sustainability and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) across Kenya’s floriculture sector.

The partnership seeks to promote practical solutions that help flower growers improve responsible farming practices, strengthen environmental management and respond to increasingly demanding sustainability requirements in international markets.

At the heart of the agreement is the need to ensure that responsible crop protection extends beyond the application of pesticides to include the safe handling, collection and management of empty pesticide containers.

Under the MoU, the two organisations will collaborate to strengthen growers’ knowledge of responsible farming practices while supporting the establishment of collection centres and aggregation systems for empty pesticide containers through the Handling and Pesticide Reduction Organisation of Kenya (HAPROK).

The initiative is expected to support more structured management of pesticide packaging waste, an important issue for an industry under growing pressure to demonstrate environmental responsibility throughout its production and supply chains.

For Kenya’s flower industry, sustainability increasingly extends beyond crop quality and productivity. Buyers and other market stakeholders are placing greater emphasis on responsible chemical use, waste management and verifiable environmental practices. Strengthening pesticide stewardship and packaging recovery systems can therefore help growers address both environmental risks and evolving market expectations.

The agreement also provides a framework for the two organisations to mobilise resources and engage relevant stakeholders and policymakers on issues affecting sustainable floriculture.

By combining their respective expertise, aak-GROW and KFC aim to strengthen technical capacity across the sector and encourage the adoption of practices that support responsible production.

The partnership comes at a time when Extended Producer Responsibility is gaining prominence in Kenya’s environmental management framework. EPR places greater emphasis on the responsibility of producers and other relevant actors for managing products and packaging beyond their initial use, including recovery, collection and appropriate disposal.

For flower farms, effective implementation depends on practical collection arrangements, awareness among workers and growers, and coordination among the organisations involved in pesticide stewardship and waste management.

The MoU was signed by Joel Mutai, chief executive officer of aak-GROW, and Clement Tulezi, chief executive officer of KFC.

Also present at the signing were Andrew Sila, HAPROK Kenya coordinator; Benson Ngigi, aak-GROW stewardship manager; John Njenga, KFC scheme manager; and Stella Gatogo, aak-GROW’s public relations and communications representative.

The agreement establishes a basis for closer collaboration between the two organisations. Its impact, however, will ultimately depend on how effectively the commitments translate into accessible collection systems, stronger grower awareness and measurable improvements in the management of pesticide packaging waste across Kenya’s floriculture industry.