Direktør Jan Bonde Nielsen, London, fylder 70 tirsdag den 20. maj.
Erhvervsmanden, der vel af de fleste danskere huskes for sit engagement i Burmeister & Wain, har også en anden side – blandt mange. Nemlig hans særlige forhold til Afrika.
I en omtale fra selskabet Greenoaks, hvor Bonde er involveret, hedder det bl.a.:
Jan Bonde Nielsen created one of the worlds largest flower growing groups, DCK International, based in Europe and Kenya in the period from the 1960s until 1974. The group operated under the name of DCK International and employed the most modern agricultural techniques known in the world at the time.
With the support of the Kenyan government, DCK had more than five million sqm of land under cultivation and 7.000 people employed. From this venture a new industry developed in Kenya, which is now the countrys largest foreign exchange earner.
In 1975, as a result of his increasing involvement in Burmeister & Wain, Jan Bonde Nielsen passed on the management of DCK to Bruce McKenzie, the former Minister of Agriculture of Kenya, and subsequently the ownership to an investor group led by Mr McKenzie. Ultimately, DCK was merged with the activities of a Unilever subsidiary in Kenya.
Danish Chrysantemum Kenya (DCK), selskabet som den unge danske gartner slog sig op på, havde dog også en mere blakket side. Aktivister i u-landsmiljøet herhjemme mente, at Bondes blomsterfarm i Østafrika i høj grad beskæftigede underbetalt arbejdskraft og i øvrigt havde opnået meget store begunstigelser fra dav. præsident Jomo Kenyattas styre.
Greenoaks skriver om Bonde og Wildlife Conservation:
Jan Bonde Nielsen has been involved in nature and wildlife projects for a long time. Over the past 19 years he has been involved as chairman and member of the board of the charity FARM-Africa. This charity has been very successful in raising substantial private funding and in building an extensive organisation throughout Africa focusing on agricultural projects.
Further, Jan Bonde Nielsen is committed to preserving the Nguruman Group ranch, a privately owned wildlife sanctuary, where the natural habitat of flora and fauna is fiercely protected, by sixty rangers, from the dangers of poaching and excessive tourism. Located south-west of Nairobi, the reserve is situated on 65.000 acres of varying types of vegetation from semi-desert to rain forest.
The sanctuary is headquartered at the Oldonyo Laro Estate on the edge of the Nguruman escarpment with panoramic views of the Great Rift Valley 2.000 feet below and a backdrop of mountains rising 8.000 feet topped by rain forest.
The main aim of the activity is to benefit the country and the people of Kenya by creation of jobs, protection of existing wildlife and fauna in the area as well as re-introduction of indigenous species, which have been poached to extinction in the area.
Hunting ended officially in Kenya in the 1970s and like the rest of the country the Ngurumans had suffered from poaching and the number of wildlife dropped to seriously low levels.
Since the activity started, wildlife rangers have been patrolling the sanctuary and a significant increase in wildlife has occurred. The rangers clear the area from snares and make sure that new snares are not put in place.
In addition to protecting the wildlife, efforts are being made to increase the number of watering holes and access to salt supplements to keep the wildlife in the area.
Bondes farm var i parentes bemærket ramme om kronprinsparrets bryllupsrejse i 2004. – Og har været mål for demonstrationer fra masaaier, der mener, at farmen ligger på jord, hvor de har haft græsnings- og vandingsrettigheder i generationer.
Uanset dette er der næppe tvivl om, at Afrika har haft en fremtrædende plads i fødselarens omtumlede liv.
