Ethiopia’s flower industry, the second-largest exporter to Europe, has started to witness a rise in demand with a total of 32.8 million dollars in revenues earned from roses and summer flowers in the last month.

With the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) proliferating globally, the flower sector was at the verge of disaster with destination countries in Europe and the Middle East shutting their doors, putting at stake thousands of jobs in an industry that supports 150,000 employees in the country.

However, as of last month, since some European countries like Germany and the Netherlands have started to ease lockdown restrictions, the flower export revenues of the country have reached 166pc of the goal set by the Ministry of Agriculture for the past 11 months of the current fiscal year.

During the months of April and March, the horticulture farms had been disposing of millions of flower stems, in the fear of uprooting the parent plant, and incurred a loss of 25 million dollars. Most of them also struggled to retain their employees.

"We stopped dumping flower stems at the beginning of May," said Zelalem Mesele, president of the Ethiopian Horticulture Producers & Exporters Association and owner of ZK Flower.

Tana Flora Plc, which was established in 2008 and now has farms in Wengita, Bahir Dar and Addis Abeba, has resumed service to its export destinations, mainly to the Netherlands and countries in the Middle East, primarily through auction markets. The exporter, which used to export 810 boxes a day, is now selling 190 to 540 boxes each day.

"We've lost one of the prime seasons for the export of flowers," said Nega Mekunanit, general manager of Tana, which has over 700 employees under its wing. "We're seeing a ray of hope now."

In the last 11 months, the horticulture sector has generated 438.3 million dollars in revenues, according to the May report from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The industry has exported a total of 77,000tn of summer flowers and roses for 351.8 million dollars over the last 11 months, whereas just 53.2 million dollars has been earned for 159,000tn of fruits and vegetables.

The misfortunes of the pandemic have created an opportunity for the Ethiopian flower export market, according to Wondale Habtamu, state minister for Agriculture.

"With the reduced price of Ethiopian Airlines coupled with efficient logistics," he said, "it has provided the leg-up the sector desperately needs right now as compared to other competitors."

Sher Ethiopia, which has farms in Ziway, Adami Tulu and Koka, has been exporting 60tn a day on average recently. This number is still close to 15pc less than what the company used to export before COVID-19.