Flower vendors in Kibera are counting huge losses from the sale of flowers since customers have kept off leading the traders to selling their flowers.
The small groups of traders selling flowers in Kibera’s Laini Saba market are counting losses since they made huge sales during the Valentine’s Day celebration that was celebrated on 14th of February, 2016.
According to the traders, this season they hardly get customers to buy their flowers and have no option they end up throwing the flowers since they are perishable.
“I sell fresh flowers direct from the farm. The flowers last for at least 2 days beyond this they get spoilt. It is a hard season to sell flowers. I make profits at times of celebration but these days there is no one coming to buy flowers,” said Dan Ayienda, a flower vendor.
John Njonjo, another vendor said that despite the decorations that they apply on the flowers, customers are still not buying the flowers.
“To sell flowers, some decorations are needed to make the flower look beauty. We use a lot of money to buy decorating colours but we are not getting buyers at all only that we are incurring losses. White people and Indians from Yaya, Lavington and Karen who used to buy are never seen these days like before. It is very hard for an African to buy a flower,” said Njonjo.
A spot check shows that the vendors harvest huge profits during celebrations such as weddings and birthday parties but seems that the residents no longer celebrate in order to buy flowers from vendors.