Finlays customer and German retailer, REWE, is funding the papyrus restoration partnership between Finlays and Dr David Harper, a senior lecturer at the University of Leicester, which aims to recreate the water-cleansing services of papyrus as artificial floating islands.

As well as having many commercial uses, papyrus is a most valuable natural filter for dirty water. A common plant of tropical wetlands, it is capable of acting like a sewage treatment works all on its own.

The restoration project at Lake Naivasha entails papyrus being planted in islands made of recycled post-consumer plastics, such as bottled water containers, made by a new company called “Floating Islands International” (FII).

The islands that have just been ordered from FII will be anchored once the papyrus has been planted, in the mouth of the main river, the Malewa, to trap silt before it reaches the lake. The roots of papyrus islands also act as important fish nurseries and feeding grounds, whilst their 5-metre tall stems hold a rich biodiversity of birds such as warblers and kingfishers. Thus the project is beneficial to both people and nature.

Papyrus originally inhabited the whole perimeter of the lake and acted as a physical filter for surface run off, and added additional value to remove nutrients. In the last few years, much of the papyrus has been removed to gain access for the lake for tourism and it is being overgrazed by buffalo and domestic cattle belonging to pastoralists. The young shoots get rapidly consumed and hinder the natural regeneration as the lake level varies through the riparian zone. So the idea of anchoring papyrus islands offshore would make them less vulnerable to bovines and encourage regeneration.

Dr Harper said: “Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake of around 100 km2, and although once crystal clear and surrounded by papyrus, it has suffered in the past 30 years. A major factor is that Naivasha has been the fastest growing town in Kenya as a result of the bonanza of horticulture, cut flowers for export, which is now one of Kenya’s top three earners of foreign exchange.

As job opportunities have grown, the human population has grown more than twenty-fold, and settlements have sprung up in a haphazard fashion, clearing papyrus. In the same 30 year period, the population of buffalo native to the lake has trebled, knocking down the papyrus to eat it.

Major flower growers are well aware of their responsibilities to the fragile environment of Lake Naivasha, and their reputation amongst consumers in Europe. Finlays, a major UK-owned tea producer and flower grower, has turned their concern into reality by growing papyrus from cut culms (pieces) in their own artificial wetlands treating waste from their processes, such as workers canteens and laundry.

Finlays also has Fairtrade status, and major European retailers, such as REWE, only buy Fairtrade flowers. However, Fairtrade does not require that farmers show a concern for the ecosystem from which the raw material for their product comes outside their own gates. Although the new Kenyan Water Act requires that they pay for this valuable “ecosystem service” – clean water – this does not directly pay for ecosystem restoration.”

The scale of the project depends very much on the pilot work being undertaken. We are also looking at the possibility of anchoring “natural” islands that detach themselves from the shore with wind and lake level changes. Some of these are quite large and could be used to fast track for example papyrus farming. However the artificial islands will still be important to reinstate areas that have been destroyed. Interestingly the floating islands also provide a refuge for fish breeding and this could encourage an industry that is at present in need of better control and increased stocks.

We believe that a good personal finance employee wellness programme is now being recognised as an important employee benefit, on a par with life and medical insurance, pension and other traditional schemes.

The programme gives an overview of personal financial planning processes and advises workers how to determine and analyse their financial position. As well as how to set and prioritise personal financial goals such as children’s higher education, home ownership and, most importantly, retirement. Further objectives include how to manage cash flow, develop and use a budget, control debt and manage personal risks: all skills which help in today’s tough economic times.

The Financial Wellness Programme provides employees with skills and resources to enable them to navigate the financial aspects of life successfully. The course is designed to provide one-on-one guidance and support to all Finlays Horticulture employees, should they wish to take part.

Impressive progress has been made with a total of 1,000 staff having undergone the training.

Finlays Managing Director, Ron Mathison, said: “this additional investment will strengthen our existing partnership with Damin and positions us well to capitalise on the enormous growth potential of the Chinese instant tea market. Finlays is unique in that it is the only tea company that still operates in all parts of the tea supply chain and this ‘bush to cup’ tea knowledge will benefit Damin in leaf tea procurement, product development and innovation.”

Damin Foodstuff is the largest tea powder provider in China with a 42.8% share of market and a 7.4% market share globally.

Demand for tea extracts has grown rapidly in recent years on the back of growth in RTD tea and Instant tea beverage market. China is now the largest RTD tea beverage market in the world and is one of the fastest growing markets.

Finlays Horticulture Kenya Limited has levered historic relationships to cement a buoyant customer base and has taken advantage of existing company expertise and geographic production diversity to ensure that Herbs are grown in optimal conditions driving strong yield and a high quality finished product. Cool high altitude conditions benefit some crops like Parsley whilst low altitude hot climates favour others like Basil. Furthermore, our well developed trans-Sahara airbridge which operates every night from Kenya into a British airport offers a cost effective route to market for this volumetric and highly perishable cargo.

The array of Herbs on offer from Finlays is impressive with 16 different types including Coriander, Flat Leaf Parsley, Dill, Chervil, Oregano, Tarragon, Common Thyme, Rosemary, Mint, Chives, Sage, and Basil together with other less well known herbs like Garlic Chives, Lemon Thyme, Mellisa and Sweet Basil. This broad product portfolio provides a one-stop offer for our trading partners utilising Finlay farms on the slopes of Mount Kenya, the shores of Lake Naivasha, the Rift Valley basin and at lower altitude in Tanzania.

Centred on a large freshwater lake, the Naivasha catchment supports hundreds of thousands of livelihoods, principally through commercial flower and vegetable growing, smallholder farming and tourism. Pastoralism and fishing are also important aspects of the social and economic profile of the area. The local horticulture and tourism activities are substantial foreign exchange earners, and Naivasha is the hub of flower production for export from Kenya. Naivasha Town has grown in an ad hoc manner to support a population of over 300,000, and several informal settlements have developed around the lake, mainly to house workers from flower farms. There is also a rapidly developing geo-thermal industry nearby.

The last 20 years has witnessed extensive deforestation in the upper catchment, widespread erosion and catchment degradation, over-abstraction of water, under investment in social and municipal services and a lack of enforcement of laws intended to protect the environment. Poor smallholder farming practices and urban pollution are now arguably the biggest issues, but some inappropriate commercial horticultural practices have also contributed to the decline. All these threats were heightened in 2009 when Kenya experienced severe drought which became a catalyst for the birth of the Imarisha Naivasha project.

Imarisha Naivasha is a unique initiative of the Kenya Government, supported by HRH Prince of Wales’ International Sustainability Unit that aims to address the economic and environmental challenges facing the catchment in an integrated and concerted way. It builds on a legacy of local public sector, private sector and civil society partnerships currently undertaking conservation and community support projects. Wide stakeholder participation will be critical to success, and at the programme’s organisational heart is a management board drawn from the main civil society and private sector interest groups, with government also represented. The board is responsible for the planning, allocation and management of resources in the Lake Naivasha Basin, and is unusual in having significant powers and a ‘hotline’ to the Office of the Prime Minister. It aims to prepare a long-term development plan that will provide for the sustainable management and equitable allocation of the basin’s natural resources for all stakeholder interests. It is also mandated to coordinate all research and development activities aimed at restoring the catchment environment and to ensure the proper enforcement of laws relating to environmental protection and resource allocation.

Lake Naivasha itself has attracted both national and international interest from academic institutions, NGOs and the horticultural industry but much of this good effort has been uncoordinated and has failed to achieve sustainable solutions to the challenges facing the lake and its catchment area.

For the last five years or so, The Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) has been undertaking a comprehensive stakeholder consultative process that has resulted in the recent adoption by stakeholders of the 10 Year Lake Naivasha Basin Integrated Management Plan (LNBIMP). This essentially presents a compendium of joint efforts required to promote environmental conservation, sustainable development and improved livelihoods for stakeholders in the Naivasha Basin.

It is the responsibility of the Imarisha Management Board to coordinate all the activities that contribute to achieving the vision of the LNBIMP. To do this, Imarisha Naivasha is formulating a five-year action plan that will set in motion activities to initiate the reversal of the negative influences that have contributed to the current state of affairs in the basin. This will establish a sound foundation for long-term sustainable management and use of resources.

The Board of Imarisha Naivasha was constituted in May 2011. Finlays currently represents the commercial growers and is Chairman of the Board. A small secretariat has been created and a series of immediate ‘no regrets’ actions have been initiated to address urgent needs and to create awareness amongst stakeholders of the vision of Imarisha Naivasha.

These activities include:

• repair of mechanical equipment at the Naivasha sewage treatment works;
• support of community forest associations to create improved tree nurseries;
• support for beach traders to create better fish processing facilities with cold storage equipment;
• support for pastoralist communities to rehabilitate storage pans for stock watering;
• a pilot biogas system aimed to demonstrate the opportunity to reduce the reliance on wood fuel.

Funding for these immediate activities and to run the Imarisha secretariat has been received from government and from the major UK retailers who sell the flowers and vegetables produced in Naivasha. In addition, under the umbrella of Imarisha Naivasha, support to address issues in water resources management is being provided by WWF, and two continental European retailers are supporting environmental restoration projects being supervised by the University of Leicester.

Imarisha Naivasha is an exciting development in harmony with Finlays’ sustainability strategy to play a leadership role in watershed management. Already, in both national and international forums, Imarisha Naivasha is being recognised as an innovative approach to public and private sector engagement for the benefit of people living and working in the Naivasha catchment, and for the long-term sustainable use of natural resources.

It was presented at COP 17 (the 2011 climate change conference), Durban, as one of the Kenya Government’s initiatives to adapt to climate change in an area of significant economic importance.

Located in the African Rift Valley, immediately south-west of Lake Naivasha and the Mount Kenya Forest, Eburu is part of the 420,000-hectare Mau Forest Complex – the largest remaining area of indigenous mountain forest in East Africa, and the largest water catchment area in Kenya.

The South West Mau borders our property along its entire eastern boundary and is the source of the five rivers that pass through the tea estates and flower farms. The farms derive their water and a substantial amount of hydroelectricity from these river systems. Climatically, the Mau provides ideal conditions for the cultivation of tea and forestry products such as eucalyptus so the health of Mau forest, including the Eburu ecosystem, is critical to our success.

Finlays has supported conservation of the Mau for many years through funding of Friends of the Mau Watershed (FOMAWA), which educates local farmers and school children about the importance of protecting their environment. Spreading the conservation message to a wider and more influential audience is a more difficult challenge.

An ‘island’ of pristine forest, supporting a wide variety of flora and fauna, but surrounded by human settlement, Eburu has been decimated over the years by illegal logging and charcoal burning, and has suffered from poaching and bush meat hunting.

There is now a glimmer of hope with the discovery that Eburu is one of the last remaining refuges for the critically endangered antelope, the Eastern Mountain Bongo. It is also believed a small population – between 7 and 15 of these beautiful animals – lives in the South West Mau Forest, close to Finlays’ tea estates. This finding by the Mountain Bongo Surveillance Project, which Finlays also funds, has at last drawn Eburu’s plight to international attention.

At the end of 2010, the UK and Kenya-based Charitable Trust, Rhino Ark, announced it was joining forces with the Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forest Service to initiate a project to fence the Mau Eburu Forest against predation. At around 50 kilometres long, the fence will cost 100 million Kenyan Shillings to build. In 2011, long-time Rhino Ark supporter, Finlays, donated Ksh 5 million to help kick-start the project and has pledged to donate a second, similar amount in 2012.

The project follows on from Rhino Ark’s successful 20-year project to fence a 2,000 square-kilometre conservation area in the Aberdare Mountains, in an effort to deter wanton poaching of the endangered black rhino. The last post in the 400km, two-metre high, solar-powered electric fence was set in place in August 2009.

One of the features of the Aberdare fence is that around 20% of its poles are made of plastic, manufactured from recycled waste material from the burgeoning Naivasha floriculture industry. The recycling scheme was the brainchild of Rhino Ark trustee and flower farmer Mike Higgins, who set up a manufacturing plant on his farm. Mike died in 2009 and after completion of the Aberdare fence, the plant fell into disuse.

In 2010, Finlays approached Rhino Ark, to ascertain if it would be possible to reactivate the plant. The outcome was an agreement to transfer the plant to Finlays’ Kingfisher Farm, where fence posts for Rhino Ark’s use are now made at cost from Finlays’ waste material. This is a ‘win-win’ partnership, which means that we can dispose of the approximately 140 tonnes of plastic waste we generate every year, in an environmentally friendly manner, while at the same time supporting a worthwhile conservation project. The waste generated translates into 10,000 fence posts – or 40kms of fence a year. Plastic posts have a number of advantages over traditional wooden ones: they are cheaper to make, they avoid the need for expensive insulators for the electrified fence, and will even spring back into place if charged by an angry elephant.

As a staunch supporter of the Mountain Bongo Surveillance Project, we also host outreach programmes in two of our estate primary schools close to South West Mau. Our employees’ children have the opportunity to learn about the Bongo, the technology used to track it and the threats faced by its natural habitat – though with the Mau Eburu fence set to begin construction in the first half of this year, in around 18 months’ time these threats will hopefully become a thing of the past.

Smallholder engagement is an essential component to a sustainable future for us at Finlays and we are engaged in several projects in Kenya and Sri Lanka, across Tea and Horticulture.

By working with smallholders we can demonstrate that our local communities have the ability to contribute to major global changes. Our level of support for and investment into projects like Kibagenge, to enhance the contribution of out-growers has been very successful.

In the words of one of our smallholder Fairtrade farmers who is a member of the Fintea Co-operative Union:
“We are seeing a better price. Training has enabled both better quality and quantity of tea to be produced.”

Kibagenge was set up by Finlay Beverages, The Co-Operative Group, international development organisation Africa Now! and The Co-Operative College. The consortium secured funding from the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund (FRICH) two years ago and is now well on the way towards completing the project.

Reducing reliance on pesticides, cutting wastage

Dudutech IPM Solutions is a division of Finlays Horticulture that has pioneered Integrated Pest Management in Kenya. Since 2003 Finlays’ increased use of indigenous biological products has eliminated the use of class 1 pesticides and reduced all other types between 63% and 97%. A pilot scheme using electrolysed water system has reduced water demand for product washing by 90% and cut effluent leaving the site by 45%. Energy required to chill wash water has been cut by 80%. Following the successful trial, the system will be fully installed during 2012.

Finlays was shortlisted because they have greatly reduced their reliance on pesticides, meaning safer access to crops for all staff. They have dramatically reduced water usage using new techniques in the industry, and have a strong focus on employee wellbeing, offering excellent training schemes to all workers.

Supporting the wellbeing of the community

Finlays Horticulture employs over 6,500 people across 6 sites. The company has an on-going investment programme in training, including supervisory, vocational and employment-based training as well as life skills support to help reduce stress. Workers receive teaching in literacy and simple financial management, to help them cope with the impact of high Kenyan inflation on wages. Over 3,000 local farmers also receive technical support to help them increase yield and income in sustainable ways.

Kibagenge, the ground-breaking project set up by Finlay Beverages, The Co-operative Group, international development organisation Africa Now! and The Co-operative College achieved Fairtrade status on 30 January 2012.
The consortium secured funding from the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund (FRICH) two years ago and is now well on the way towards completing the project.

The project in Kericho, Kenya works with 11,200 farmers who have formed five individual co-operatives. These five co-operatives, Kokchaik, Ainamoi, Chepcheb, Kapkap and Chesetekaa, are members of the Fintea Growers Co-operative Union Limited who achieved Fairtrade status following an audit by FLO in November 2011. Fintea Growers will manage the Fairtrade
premiums generated by the sale of leaf tea, initially with Finlays but ultimately with whomever the farmers choose.

Tea from these farmers will be processed in Finlays’ Kymulot and Chomogonday factories and will be marketed as 100% smallholder tea under the Bondet and Masangi tea marks. The co-operatives have been formally trading in leaf tea
with Finlays since November 2011.

Kibagenge aims to increase trade between Kenya and the UK, whilst improving livelihoods of small scale tea farmers both in tea and other export crops. The project has assisted farmers in organising themselves into producer co-operatives, achieving Fairtrade certification. Its end goal is to develop additional supply chain links for fresh produce to UK retailers.

“Kibagenge empowers smallholders to become more commercially orientated and reduces their vulnerability from dependence on a single cash crop”, commented Simeon Hutchinson, Managing Director of James Finlay Kenya. “Both of these are consistent with our sustainability goals. The project is also expected to strengthen the relationship that already exists between Finlays and the smallholder community, whilst the implementation of GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) assists in improving the environmental and economic prospects within their community.”

Chairman of Fintea Growers, Mr Joseph Cheruiyot, will be visiting the UK to coincide with Fairtrade Fortnight (27 Feb to 11 March). He will be hosted by The Co-operative Group and will be visiting regional co-operatives, schools, conferences and events across the UK to promote the project. The Co-operative’s ‘99’ retail tea blend will be the first product to contain the Fairtrade certified tea from these farmers.

Kibagenge is an expression that translates as “coming together as one” in Kalenjin, a local language.Chairman of Fintea Growers, Mr Joseph Cheruiyot, will be visiting the UK to coincide with Fairtrade Fortnight (27 Feb to 11 March). He will be hosted by The Co-operative Group and will be visiting regional co-operatives, schools, conferences and events across the UK to promote the project. The Co-operative’s ‘99’ retail tea blend will be the first product to contain the Fairtrade certified tea from these farmers.

Kibagenge is an expression that translates as “coming together as one” in Kalenjin, a local language.

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