Love is not the only thing that blossoms with bouquets of roses. In Tanzania, the commercial cut flower industry reaps in a harvest of millions of dollars a year, exporting flowers to markets in Europe.
Dr. Ladislaus Komba, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development, Tanzania
We used to have only coffee, cotton, tobacco and the like. Now we are entering into new avenues of agricultural production. And the good thing is that these cut flowers are products that are high valued.
But new markets bring new concerns for worker’s safety and health. Nearly 70 percent of the pickers are women new to the methods of large-scale farming that include pesticides used to produce row upon row of perfect blooms. Sexual harassment is another problem for women unfamiliar with their rights in the workplace.
That’s why Phillipina Mosha of the trade union for Tanzanian farm workers is in the fields alongside the pickers, showing them how to handle chemicals safely, explaining their rights as workers. Courses at the International Labour Organization’s training centre in Turin, Italy, helped her create workshops for hundreds of women back home on the farms.
Phillipina Mosha, Education & Gender Secretary, Tanzania Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (TPAWU)
During our training session we try to encourage women to move forward, fight for their rights, but be responsible in order to protect their employment.
Phillipina and the union also encourage better dialogue with farms like Kiliflora where a collective bargaining agreement has brought better working conditions. Her workshops have had an effect in other areas as well.
Martha Mwashitte, Chairperson, Women's workers committee, Kiliflora
Gender-based violence used to be there, but since the awareness training, it has decreased for women workers including pregnant women.
Kiliflora, recently named as one of the best employers in the country, also follows an international code of conduct for the production of cut flowers.
Shao D. Colman, Import Export manager, Kiliflora
We saw it important because 98 per cent of our flowers are for export, and so long as we are dealing with international countries, we should have to comply with them.
Decent working conditions make business sense for Kiliflora and for other farms in Tanzania’s blossoming cut flower industry.