Bella Flowers Ltd grows 18 varieties of roses at Gishali Flower Park.  The pioneer rose farm was designed by the Government of Rwanda in 2016 as a strategic government investment to boost the Rwandan floriculture sector. The farm produces cut roses for export to international markets.

The initiative is implemented on a public private partnership basis. “We began humbly in 2016, cultivating intermediate standard rose flowers on 20 ha giving us an annual output of 20 million stems. Then we added another 20 ha, upping output to 40 million stems. In phase III, we are adding another 6 ha with the greenhouses already in place,” says Ephrem Kwitonda, Sales and Marketing Officer, Bella Flowers Ltd.

Four years down the road, Bella Flowers Ltd produces 30-32 MT of cut roses exportable to the Netherlands, the UK, Australia, South Korea and Japan with small quantities going to some Africans countries.

Bella roses are grown at our farm in Gishali Sector, about 65 km from Kigali International Airport, the farm location offers proven growing conditions for intermediate head size standard roses, with production yielding an average of 160,000 stems a day.

The farm is situated at an altitude of 1550m above sea level which is ideal for production of intermediate roses. And, strict adherence to cold chain standards gives Bella Flowers’ roses a cutting edge in global flower industry.

“Bella Flowers is already GAP certified and we are working to attain MPS and Fairtrade certifications. This will further improve our good standing at global market. We are also implementing phase III of farm expansion which should grow our per annum output to 50 million stems.” He added

Global GAP certificate is issued to companies that adhere to best practices for labour conditions, pesticide and fertiliser application not to harm environment and to further oversee the professional standards of companies. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, the company was employing 820 casual workers on a regular basis drawn from the community of Gishali Sector. This is on top of 35 permanent staff.

Rose varieties grown by Bella Flowers: Athena, Proud, Magic Avalanche, Yelloween, Moonwalk, High and Magic, Patz, Espana, Furiosa, Prestige, Tacazzi, Nicoletta, Neworleans, Deepwater, Ace Pink, Revival, Bellerose and Sobet Avalanche