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A woman harvests roses in a greenhouse at a flower farm in Ethiopia, February 12, 2008. REUTERS/Michael Tsegaye

Ethiopia - Ten flower farms receive warnings

By Asegid Assefa

The Reporter

The Holeta town administration Investment Bureau issued a warning this week to flower investors who have not paid land rent tax, Negussie Gebissa, the town’s manager of the Investment Bureau, told The Reporter. The tax rate is 0.16 birr per square meter.

According to Negussie, ten flower farms in Ethiopia around Holeta occupy an area of 503 hectares.

When the investors had said that the tax was too much for them, the Investment Bureau had lowered it to 0.16 birr per sq.m. However, even with such provision, the investors could not pay their dues promptly, Negussie said.

Among the investors that the Bureau frequently contacted by mail and in person to remind them to pay their taxes are Ethio-Agri Safety which belongs to Sheik Mohamed Husein Al-Amoudi, Rose Ethio, Holeta Rose, Fiori Ethiopia, Dire Highland A Flower, Garad Pvt Ltd, Top Flower and Metrolax.

“It’s surprising that the investors have failed to pay their tax at the rate of 0.16 birr a square meter,” Negussie said. He said that if the investors would not settle their debts following the warning issued to them, the Investment Bureau would be forced to take the case to court.

The daily laborers working on the flower farms have been striking repeatedly and Negussie said the reason was that they were underpaid and their payments were usually delayed.

A member of the Holeta administration’s cabinet said that it was unfair that farmers were evicted from their land only to be replaced by flower investors who fail to pay a 0.16-birr-per sq.m. tax.