Mount Elgon Orchards – Flower Farm in Chepchoina

Mount Elgon Orchards is a horticultural farm at Chepchoina on the lower slopes of Mount Elgon, in Trans Nzoia County north-west of Kitale. Started in the 1920s by a Swedish botanist, it is still run by the same family and is one of the oldest commercial farms in Kenya.

Roses are the main crop. About 50 hectares of greenhouses at roughly 2,000 metres produce more than 90 million stems a year, sold under the Elgon Collection brand and shipped to the company's own handling business in the Netherlands. The farm also grows Hass and Fuerte avocados on about 116 hectares.

The farm runs largely on its own hydropower plant and solar panels, harvests rainwater for irrigation and keeps nearly half its land as natural habitat for colobus monkeys, serval cats and many birds. Through the Mount Elgon Trust, founded in 2005, it supports schools, health care and community projects in western Kenya.

Contact the Kenya office on +254 735 330 591 or +254 735 330 592, or info@mountelgonorchards.com. More is on the Mount Elgon Orchards website.