The farm is at an altitude of 2,000 meters with its first planting in 2003.
We started operations within 4 hectares with only 4 flower varieties and we have since then grown to 32 hectares with 12 flower varieties. The farm comprises of 22 hectares of Richel movable vent green houses, 7 hectors of Asthor fixed vent green houses and an Asthor propagation unit with a capacity of producing plants for two hectares in one cycle.
Our target market has been Europe & the UK primarily focused on Direct sales to the retail segment. Aquila has set high standards in rose farming and continues to be a showcase for new farms developed in the region with growers exemplifying similar infrastructure standards. We are committed to continuously maintaining, protecting and improving the environment with sustainable development. Certain areas of the farm have been allocated to forestry conservation and reforestation, while also providing for a game sanctuary for an array of wild animals.
We produce grade ‘A’ quality roses so that when you take our rose flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment! Our roses are grown with passion!
We take into consideration every single aspect of our business – starting from the variety selection, plant propagation, growing, post-harvest treatment, customer services, our environment, community and wildlife.
Our product range includes Roses & Fillers. Our rose varieties include:
This is the first stage that starts off with propoagation from the root stock.
After grafting, the seedling is placed in a seperate chamber, with top of the range humidity control equipment. Humidity control helps crop rooting to happen faster. This takes 52 - 55 days then its ready for transplanting to the green houses.
The next stage is bending, mulching, weeding and spraying.
At the harvesting phase, our trainied team primarily comprising of women will do the bud-size quality checks, count the stems and record them before having them transported to the pack house.
Upon arrival at the pack house, the flowers will be stored at the cold room for 4 hours as a pre-cooling process to ensure the flowers last longer. The packhouse process starts with defoliation where the thorns and lower leaves are removed at the base of the stem.
Sizing then happens next to ensure the stems are as per the clients specifications. The main sizes we export are usually 40cm and 50 cm.
Bunching is also done in mostly 7 or 10 stems per bunch.At this stage quality checks are also done to check for pests, disease, deformity, cut size and cut stage before heading to the sleeving and packaging stage.
Sleeving & labelling is done immediately after the bunching stage. We provide different options for sleeving depending on the client as well as the sensitivity of the rose variety.
The options include clear sleeves, transit sleeves, Fairtrade branded sleeves and supermarket branded sleeves as prescribed by some of the clients.
The packing is then stored in the cold room awaiting loading & dispatch.
As part of our process, we tend to transport the flowers from the evening hours to ensure the temperatures are still condusive for the flowers even in transit.
Upon arrival at the JKIA international airport, a phytosanitary check is done by Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) who then issue a phytosanitary certificate.
At this stage the flower packages are loaded into the cargo planes as part of the continous cold-chain management process.
Need tonnes of flowers exported to you in any continent? Get in touch with our sales team today.
