Kenyan farmers, as well as horticulture exporters dealing in green bananas and broccoli, have a new market for selling their products; South Korea, following clearance from the country’s Animal and Quarantine Agency.

“The purpose of this announcement is to bring this information to your attention and request your assistance in contacting farmers and exporters of the above products so that they can advantage of this opportunity,” said Dr Chris Kiptoo, Principal Secretary State Department of Trade in a media statement issued two weeks ago.

The East Asian country is largely an importer of foods in order to meet her consumption needs. South Korea imports 70 per cent of its food and in 2017, bananas were the most imported product in the country recording 834,000 tons, worth $1.24bn, according to statistics released in September this year by the South Korea Customs Service.

The largest fruit exporter to South Korea, accounting for 38.3 per cent of the total fruit imports was the United States of America. It was followed by the Philippines with 28.6 per cent, of fruits exports, Chile accounted for 11.6 per cent and New Zealand with 5.1 per cent.

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Green bananas.

Kenya produces an estimated 1.4m tonnes of bananas annually.

The Leading producers are: Meru (19 per cent), Embu (12 per cent), Taita Taveta (nine per cent), Murang’a (seven per cent), Kisii and Nyamira (six per cent), Tharaka Nithi (six per cent) and Bungoma (five per cent).

86 per cent of the total bananas produced are sold commercially with the rest being consumed directly according to USAID.  

Farmers in these regions are taking the opportunity to improve their products to meet international standards.

“It is an encouraging move that will allow farmers’ access to new markets and especially given that we produce some the best green and ripe bananas globally. Most of the farmers in Nyamira County sell locally to areas such as Nakuru, Mombasa and Kisumu but in the total of 410 farmers in our farmers’ group, I am certain that 100 of them are in large-scale banana production and can meet the new international demand,” said Milton Ongeri, Chairman of Kilimo Bora Public Private Partnership.

Kilimo Bora Public-Private Partnerships is a WhatsApp group  with mostly Nyamira County members who include; farmers, agronomists, buyers and sellers of agriculture produce. The group connects farmers to local markets and traders.

Mr Ongeri notes that most of the farmers do not meet international standards due to the quality of their produce.

“Some of the problems that farmers face are; low production levels as well as low-quality crops that have affected market demands. This is due to pest infestation and diseases but we are taking measures such as purchasing the right pesticides to ensure that the crops are healthy,” said Ongeri.

Also, following the South Korea announcement, the group has taken the initiative of mentoring and educating their members so that they can better understand the certifications required in order to trade in the international markets.

To produce for the international market, particular horticultural practices must be followed. For starters there are some documents exporters of any produce must have. These include an Export License from the Horticultural Crops Development Authority HCDA, a GlobalGAP certification and a Phytosanitary and conformity certificates from KEPHIS that is handed as a confirmation that all the plant and plant products exported are in accordance with the requirement of the importing country.

For broccoli exportation, the Kenya Horticulture Exporters (KHE) is one of the biggest exporters of the crop to international markets. In fact, the organization transports at least 22 tonnes a day of fresh produce from raspberries to tender stem broccoli through IAG Cargo, the cargo handling division of International Airlines Group and annually it exports  7500 tonnes of perishables via IAG Cargo.

Broccoli producing areas in Kenya areas include; Nairobi, Laikipia, Kiambu, Muranga, Makueni and part of Rift Valley among others. It is best grown in areas with a lot of sunlight and fertile as well as acidic soils.

A group of farmers from Western Kenya has started processing among others sossi yoghurt, flour and beverages from soya beans as a solution to the smaller quantities of their produce which were going to waste due to rejection by a high volume buying company.

The farmers pooled together under Mumias District Federation of Soya beans Farmers group (MUDESOF) were introduced to soya beans farming by Promassidor the manufacturers of the now famous household delicacy Sossi.

“The firm approached us in 2010 and offered us the initial farm inputs including certified seeds, fertilizers and knowledge on better husbandry practices,” said Stephen Kasamani, the group leader.

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Though the firm’s entry into the Kenyan market brought the much needed relief to the farmers by introducing Soya beans as an alternative to sugarcane which has dominated the area, the farmers have been finding it difficult to all their produce due to standard and logistic challenges.

“We started the value addition projects due to the fact that sometimes, there were remainders of the Soya harvests in small quantities that could not be transported to Promassidor’s factory in Nairobi,” said Kasamani.

Although Promassidor accepts any quantity of the right variety of Soya bean in Nairobi, the transport modes they send to the field only carry bulk purchases like five tonnes. Farmers have to therefore look for alternative markets for the remaining harvest.

The local markets provide about Sh30 per kilo a price that is half of what Promassidor offers which according to him, translates to a total loss to a farmer hence the birth of the small scale value addition industries.

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Starting off in value addition

To kick off this project, most of the farmers had to go through regular trainings on these ventures from other development organizations through Kenya Industrial Research Development Institutes (KIRDI) from time to time for a period of six months.

After knowledge acquisition, the farmers are now championing a new breed of more nutritious products from Soya although they produce on a small scale.

“Our market is slowly expanding although financial constraints are still deterring us from the purchase of the state of art Machines to expand production,” explained Kasamani.

According to Kasamani although their group is producing numerous products from Soya beans, three distinctive products have emerged and command a higher demand from their clients.

“Composite flour which is a mixture of soya and finger millet is fast moving due to it being ideal for patients and babies. Our Soya beverage is also fast moving and some clients confess to it being superior quality as opposed to other similar products in the market,” he explained.

The group sell most of their products to the local markets and consumers who visit the production site shops to buy or place orders.

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Employment opportunities

Despite the pitfalls, the group is creating a ray of hope for many people in the area as the projects are creating employment opportunities for individuals in the region. Many youths in the area are involved in the production chain process especially during the harvest time.

“Although we have casual workers, we are giving them a chance to make ends meet at a time when unemployment especially among the youth has hit record highs. During the peak season when many farmers are harvesting, we employ directly and indirectly over 300 people who include the factory workers, suppliers, marketers among others.”

To meet market demands and acquire other certifications paper work from standardization bodies like Kenya Bureau of Standards, the group is in discussion with KIRDI Malava, Kisumu or Bungoma to use their modern machines which were installed by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

“We are negotiating to see that we can produce our products using their machines which are up-to date. He explained that the deal should be sealed in the near future because the machines were installed by the government under an arrangement that their projects runs for three years after which the machines are handed to the farmers to conduct value addition.”

Currently the Soya value addition projects in the area do not threaten the interests of Promassidor according to Kasamani.

“We are processing about one percent of our season’s harvests and 99 percent is delivered to Promassidor. We just opt to process it if its’ surplus or left behind due to logistical challenges. We do not have capacity to compete with them and that is why they also encourage us to do the same,” he explained.

In fact to the contrary, Kasamani argues that they are promoting Promassidor products like Sossi because they encouraging the masses to consume Soya products.

“When the population accepts our Soya products then it makes it easy for Promasidor to access the market because the locals already know the health benefits of Soya products,” added Kasamani.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Inyani who noted that they have to empower the farmers so that the country realizes the full potential of the benefits from Soya beans.