Kenya’s new strategy to improve quality of fresh produce exports

As the Kenyan horticulture industry continues to face growing number of interceptions due to the harvest of immature crops, hygiene, poor storage, transportation challenges and pest controls that have affected its access to the export markets, stakeholders in the industry have decided to do something to tame these interceptions and increase the country’s competitiveness in the global export market. The National Horticulture Taskforce (NHT) recently unveiled Good Agricultural Practice Guides for avocados, beans and peas that require exporters to comply with standards spelt out by the destination markets to avoid the bans.

The NHT is a multi-stakeholder forum with representation of about 20 organizations from both public and private sector in the horticulture sub sector that promotes private-public sector dialogue.

The forum also has the goal to ensure Kenya’s horticultural produce complies with market requirements and sustains its reputation as a leading grower and exporter of horticultural produce.
The industry employs around 6.5 million people and in 2022, Kenya earned Sh146 billion from horticulture exports, with flowers contributing Sh103 billion, vegetables Sh23 billion and fruits Sh20 billion.

The two guides were produced together with partners including the NExt Kenya Programme, European Union, Kenya Flower Council and the Committee Linking Entrepreneurship Agriculture Development (COLEAD).

They outline the procedures to be adopted by value chain actors in the avocado, beans and peas in pods sector – ensuring compliance with both market and SPS requirements at the regional, national and international level.

NHT Chairman, Clement Tulezi said that the Good Agricultural Practice Guides have come at a critical moment in the horticultural sector of Kenya which is currently facing major bottlenecks that need to be addressed to enable it to competitively thrive in the marketplace.

“The Good Agricultural Practice Guides have been developed by the stakeholders to address the challenges relating to the commercial quality and the regulatory requirements for beans, peas and avocado,” he said.

These challenges, he added, include compliance with SPS requirements such as the presence of harmful organisms and maximum residue limits for pesticides, use of quality and true to type planting materials and adoption of good hygiene practices.

Mr Tulezi added, “Some farmers have been harvesting immature avocados which has led to flagging of the avocado exports to the niche markets. The good practice guides contain strategies on addressing these challenges.”

At the launch, Harsama Kello, the Principal Secretary, State Department for Crop Development, said horticulture is the fastest growing sub-sector in agriculture and has been on a steady rise in terms of production volumes and revenue for the last 10 years.

He added that the private sector plays a very big role in the industry of exporting avocado, beans and peas in pods and other horticulture products with more than 150,000 small scale farmers participating in value chains for the export market.

He said the Ministry will continue creating an enabling environment for the sub sector to thrive and ensure that the country realizes the desired agriculture transformation.
Dr Oronje said, “Pests and diseases directly impact the fresh fruits and vegetables sector and are known to migrate and move across borders, adversely affecting crop production.
“Ensuring that countries have good SPS measures in place means that a critical element of the food value chain can be strengthened not only to mitigate crop pests and diseases early on but also, crucially, at the point of export and import.

“The Good Agricultural Practice Guides for avocado, beans and peas in pods are valuable assets for Kenya’s agricultural sector to have to help increase the productivity of its smallholder farmers but also their livelihoods and regional, national and international food security.”

Over the years, the Kenyan industry has recognized the need to comply with the numerous regulations on standards set up by destination markets and has embraced these requirements which have now become a “license to trade”. Working with the private sector, the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) has worked hard to comply with EU regulations in terms of inspections and achieved status under EU regulation 1148 as an `”approved nation” which ensured that Kenyan produce would be fast tracked on arrival in the European Market. This is a significant competitiveness advantage for Kenyan exporters.

To stem interceptions, Kenya has previously invested in standards that guide production and export of fresh produce.

The Kenya Standard 1758: 2016 (KS 1758) is a code of practice for Kenya’s horticulture industry, outlining the sanitary and safety criteria for the production, handling, and sale of flowers, ornamentals, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices. It is divided into two parts with part one covering floriculture, and part two covering fruits and vegetables.

The horticulture industry players in Kenya, in recognizing the importance of the sub-sector, and the challenges faced by the sub-sector, developed a code of practice to regulate the production of horticultural produce. This aims to guarantee the supply of high-quality, healthy, and safe produce for both the domestic and international markets.

This move gave birth to KS 1758. The Standard is based on four major pillars namely: food safety, good agricultural practice, worker welfare, and care for the environment.

This Standard is administered by the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA-Horticultural Crops Directorate – HCD) and it is domiciled at the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), with different industry stakeholders tasked with the duty of creating awareness of the standard.

At the same time, Government intervention in the Kenyan horticulture sector has mainly facilitating sectoral growth through infrastructure development, incentives and support services and letting the private sector steer the industry. The result has been unprecedented growth in the sector which has been the envy of many competitors and indeed the model has been utilized as a template for many emerging economies. Scaling up the capacity of the cargo terminal at the airport as well as adequate and efficient cold storage systems on site have also contributed significantly to efficiency in export horticulture. Availability of cold storage depots for hire near production zones was facilitated by HCD through construction of cold stores in various regions bringing chill chain services closer to the produce source.