Press Release

13 February 2007

Benn says ‘buy African flowers on Valentine's day and help make poverty history’

Just because flowers are flown in from Africa is no reason not to buy them on Valentines Day, International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said today.

Speaking to an international sustainable food conference Mr Benn said:

"People want to buy ethically and do their bit for climate change, but often don’t realise that they can support developing countries and reduce carbon emissions. Recent research shows that flowers flown from Africa can use less energy overall than those produced in Europe because they’re not grown in heated greenhouses.

"So, this Valentine’s day, you can be a romantic, reduce your environmental impact and help make poverty history. This is about social justice and making it easier, not harder, for African people to make a decent living."
 

• Read the full speech here

Some key facts:

• The UK is one of the world’s biggest importers of flowers and almost a third of what we import comes from Kenya. Around 70,000 workers, most of them women, work on Kenyan flower farms.
• A recent study shows that the emissions produced by growing flowers in Kenya and flying them to the UK can be less than a fifth of those grown in heated and lighted greenhouses in Holland. Why? Because Kenya is warm and sunny, and heating greenhouses in Holland uses enormous amounts of energy.
• British shoppers spend over £1 million a day on imported fruit and vegetables from Africa and the livelihoods of more than a million farmers and their families depend on this trade.
• A recent study from the International Institute for Environment and Development shows that, although air transport does have an environmental impact, air-freight fruit and vegetables from Africa account for less than one tenth of one per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
• In Kenya, carbon emissions are 200 kg a head; in the UK it is almost fifty times that.

Hilary Benn added:

“Climate change is hugely important to the future of developed and developing countries but if we boycott goods flown from Africa we deny the poor the chance to grow; their chance to educate their children and stay healthy.

“We should remember that people living in the vast majority of African countries are responsible for a tiny amount of carbon emissions. We in the West can have more impact on our huge carbon footprint by turning off our TVs at night and using energy saving lightbulbs.”

Additional Information

• Hilary Benn is speaking at The Sustainable Food Laboratory conference in London on Tuesday 13th February at 1.15pm (Rembrandt Hotel, 11 Thurloe Place, London SW7 2RS). The Sustainable Food Laboratory is a community of business and social leaders from at least three continents who explore the change to the ways we grow, harvest, buy, and distribute food.
• Copies of the Secretary of State’s speech can be made obtained from the DFID Press Office.
• 3. Photos of Kenyan flower farm workers are available at: www.dfid.gov.uk  or from DFID Press Office.

For further information, contact DFID Press Office on 020 7023 0600, e-mail pressoffice@dfid.gov.uk  or call our Public Enquiries Point on 0845 300 4100.

DFID News is available on our website at www.dfid.gov.uk 

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