We are very saddened to hear the recent news regarding the burning of Esmeralda’s Flower Farm in Ethiopia. Their total investment has been completely destroyed, which has now resulted in them closing their operation in Holland, where the majority of the Ethiopian product was sold from. At this point, we are not aware of any affects this will have on Connectaflor in Miami, who are exclusive distributors of Esmeralda’s South American grown product. We also do not feel that there will be any immediate impacts on flowers we import from Holland, but it something we will keep a close eye on as things progress.
Below is an excerpt from an article posted by nltimes.nl regarding the reason behind the attack:
The militants attacked the Esmeralda Flowers farm and a number of other foreign farms near Bahir Dar because they have ties with the Ethiopian government. The attacks follow an ongoing dispute between some parts of the Ethiopian population that feel they are not profiting from the country’s economic growth and the government. Human rights groups reported that the government killed more than 500 people since June in an effort to suppress the protests.
According to NU.nl, there are about 350 Dutch people in the affected area in the Amhara region.
