For Selecta the people count. Each year we import more than 200 million bedding and balcony as well as poinsettia cuttings from Africa where they had been harvested by hand on horticultural farms in Uganda and Kenya.
With the foundation of Selecta Kenya more than 10 years ago and the Joint Venture with Wagagai Ltd. in Uganda since 2006, Selecta also took over a high social responsibility for their working staff. This also comprises the continuous improvement of the working and living conditions not only on the farms but also in their daily life. The large number of programmes and activities offered to the staff shows our responsibility: Free meals, farm clinics with qualified staff, baby care for women nursing their babies, free counselling about different topics like AIDS and health hygiene, personal loans to purchase for example a bicycle, and donations in kind. Of course Selecta is treating all people working on their farms according to applicable employment law and secures fair wages or salaries that are adapted to the inflation rate. Both farms meet the highest standards for industrial safety hence belonging to the leading horticultural farms in East Africa. Each year the company additionally qualifies people to work on the management level at both locations thus offering them also more possibilities to work outside of Selecta. The farm in Uganda received the internationally accepted certifications MPS-GAP and MPS-SQ for horticultural products produced in a sustainable and socially responsible manner.
Against the background of growing criticism coming from the media always taking aim at the horticulture in Africa we decided to mark our products with a positive label: “Fair First!”. With this label Selecta guarantees that all labeled products had been produced in a social and environmentally sound manner.
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