Last Friday and Saturday, Naivasha was again hosting the Naivasha Horticultural Fair (NHF), one of Africa’s largest horticultural fairs. The fair provides stakeholders in the industry, primarily the floral industry, a chance to showcase their products and services. This year, visitors of the outdoor fair could visit the stands of more than 250 exhibitors ranging from growers, greenhouse manufacturers, and suppliers. NHF Chairman Richard McGonnell looks back on this 22nd edition and shares some of his expectations for next year.
Attendees visiting the exhibitor stands
What about the visitors?
According to McGonnell, the show was well-attended: “The fair went very, very well. Friday was amongst the best days we have ever had with many visitors, many of them management directors of flower farms within the business side of the flower industry. Quality visitors, all the participants/stands were busy throughout the day, which is great for them all.” He points out that Friday usually is more the “businessmen’s day” while Saturday is more for tourists and slightly less busy. Although the fair drew attendees from Kenya and abroad, the organizers of the fair found that there were some fewer visitors from abroad due to the recent Mpox outbreak.
“Lovely weather” and some rains
As the fair is an outdoor fair, the weather plays a role. When the fair was set up last week there was no rain, but the expected shower of rain eventually arrived at both Friday and Saturday. “The weather was lovely; we had a small shower early in the afternoon. On Saturday the rains came again at close down whilst most were clearing in a rush to spend the rest of the weekend with their families,” McGonnell comments.
When the fair was set up, the skies were blue
Expectations
This year, McGonnell saw a few new flower farms attending. He believes that this is related to current developments in the Kenyan horticulture market. “The Kenyan market is expanding, and the prices are very high. This causes farmers to expand their business. For that reason, I expect that next year’s fair will become even bigger.” In that light, the NHF seeks to get more NGOs involved during future editions. “Kenya is a big country, there are probably 4-5 small scale farms that can develop further. NGOs are the professionals when it comes to developing small-scale farms.
An impression of the fair
Next year, the fair will take place from September 19 to 20.
For more information:
Naivasha Horticultural Fair
[email protected]
www.naivashahortifair.com