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: 07 February 2018; Hits: 8304

Government lifts ban on avocado exports

Trader displaying avocadoes in market. Ban on export of Hass and Fuerte avocado varieties is temporarily lifted. Kenya produces an estimated 200,000 metric tonnes of avocado annually but only 16,000 is exported.

Small scale farmers in Kenya are breathing a sigh of relief thanks to the government last week temporarily lifting the ban on exports of avocadoes.

Fuerte and Hass avocado varieties export was banned in December last year due to a shortage in the market as they were off-season; this influenced the sale of the fruits in the market while still immature. Fuerte which is now on-season is at the moment allowed for export while Hass exportation will begin exportation next month when it will be on-season.

RELATED ARTICLE: Government bans avocado exports on shortages

The Kenya Plant Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), the parastatal responsible for ensuring the quality of agricultural inputs and produce, has now set new guidelines to monitor the harvesting process to prevent immature fruits from reaching the market.

“Traders can now export the Fuerte avocadoes, however, they will need a clearance certificate from KEPHIS”, said Alfred Busolo, Agriculture and Food Authority's (AFA) director general.

Over 75 per cent of small-scale farmers in Kenya were affected by the ban. So bad was it for them that avocado farmers from Murang’a County filed a case against the government at the High Court last month arguing that they will suffer huge losses because some of them had already harvested their fruits.

RELATED ARTICLE:More farmers certified to sell avocado in EU

Smallholder avocado farmers in the country produce about 81,000 metric tonnes annually of the fruit, of these, 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes goes to waste due to a lack of ready market. Additionally, Kenya produces an estimated 200,000 metric tonnes of avocado annually but only 16,000 is exported, with the figure expected to reduce due to the ban.

Fresh produce exporter companies such as Selina Wamucii (Kenya) Ltd have thus welcomed the move by the government to lift the ban temporarily terming it as a sigh of relief to the sector and the farmers.

"It's definitely very good news for the small family growers who produce over 70 per cent of avocado that is exported in Kenya,” said Selina Wamucii CEO, John Oroko.

“The ban was a wake-up call for exporters as was imposed to stop exporters from shipping out immature crop because of high demand in the world market. We are now getting into the main avocado season and hope that all industry players comply with the export requirements. The responsibility is now on the exporters to follow the protocols to avoid any future suspensions.”

RELATED ARTICLE:Avocado farmers to earn more from EU in April

Agriculture and Food Authority, the parastatal in charge of promoting best practices in, and regulating, the production, processing, marketing, grading, storage, collection, transportation and warehousing of agricultural and aquatic products among other objectives, rates Kenya as the second largest avocado growing and exporting country in Africa after South Africa.

Last year for example, 461.1 tonnes worth Sh7.1bn was produced as compared to 387.2 tonnes worth Sh5.4bn in 2016.These fruits contribute about seven per cent of the total fruit export to the global market in Kenya, according to AFA data.

Some of the countries which have shown interest in Kenyan avocadoes include Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain, Iran, Libya, and Egypt among others.

RELATED ARTICLE: Global avocado demand doubles prices

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: 02 February 2018; Hits: 9516

KEBS reduces food production certification period from 77 days to 57 days

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) which assists in the production and certification of quality goods and products among other mandates has reduced certification duration for producing various goods and products from77days to 57 days allowing farmers a shorter waiting period in getting licenses.

It will encourage farmers interested in adding value to their crops to reach more consumers and make more income.

“The bureau would take more than two months to oversee and permit production of various goods and products but this has reduced to less than two month for interested and keen producers,” said Thomas Asoo, KEBS’ quality assurance officer.

Production and certification process:

Food products for example are standardized to ensure their safety for use by humans taking care of areas such as nutritional labelling, hygiene, food addictive and more. This gives consumers the guarantee that food they are consuming meets the high standards of safety and quality.

The standardization is also a marketing tool, in the East Africa region and internationally as the products are considered safe. Food products have 21,500 international standards which cover areas such as, food safety management, microbiology, fisheries and aquaculture, essential oils and starch and its by-products.

In Kenya, before applying for product certification by KEBS, the individual, group or company must be a registered enterprise. The certificate of registration which must indicate the annual turnover of the enterprise or an estimation of the turnover in case of first-timers in food production for example, is sent to KEBS for verification.

“Any enterprise interested to start production of goods or food products must specify to the bureau what such an enterprise is worth yearly before proceeding to the next level of certification,” said Asoo.

Applicants are then advised to visit KEBS’ website International Organization for Standardization (IOS) store section to choose and buy International Standards, guidelines, collections and checklists. The charges are different depending on the standard of choice.

“In case they do not understand the standards there are also designed publications to help understand how standards work and how to apply them, many of which can be downloaded free.”

“When this is over our officers visits the production site to investigate the hygiene of the site, quality of the raw materials and pick samples of the end product for tests in our labs.”

Testing takes within 21-28 days upon which production permit is issued to the applicant if their products qualifies. If the products fail to meet the standard, the whole process is repeated which may take another more time.

Getting permission to engage in production of a product is very important and mandatory as those who go against it can be fined, jailed or have their products destroyed.

“Any individual, group or company found processing and producing substandard goods or products against the law can be fined up to Sh2m, jailed or have their products destroyed and their business closed,” said Asoo adding that only fresh produce do not need KEBS’ permit to be sold.

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: 31 January 2018; Hits: 9635

Agricultural stakeholders to market potato as the food of choice

Agricultural stakeholders led by the Kenya Health Plant Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) are set to market and promote the growing of potatoes in Kenya as a food of choice to enhance food security.

Potato marketing will be done through potato field days set to be organized by all stakeholders in the potato sector in the country.

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Stakeholders, who included Agrico, Kisima Farm, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, International Potato Center, Sereni Flowers, Stokman Rosen, National Potato Council of Kenya, and Gaia Foods met on January 19^th to discuss marketing of the tuber and having specific days such as 'Potato Day' where Kenyans would be sensitized on the nutritional value of potato.

According to the National Potato Council of Kenya, Potatoes are the second most important food and cash crop after maize in Kenya. Potatoes are grown by approximately 800,000 smallholder farmers, employ 2.7m actors along the marketing channels and contribute over Sh50bn to the Kenyan economy.

However, the productivity level of the crop stands at less than 10 tonnes per hectare vis-a-vis the maximum production of 40 tonnes which is too low if potatoes are to be primed as a significant contributor to food security. The biggest challenge faced by farmers for increased potato production is lack of certified seeds.

Potato farmers in Kenya prefer growing Shangi, Asante, Tigoni, Kenya Mpya, Desiree, Kenya Karibu and Sherehekea varieties.

potato stakeholders.jpg

Potato stakeholders who attended a two day consultative forum on how to enhance potato production in Kenya at KEPHIS headquarters, Nairobi. The forum explored ways of increasing and improving potato production in Kenya to improve food security. PHOTO/KEPHIS

The top potato producing counties are Nyandarua, Meru, Nyeri, Kiambu, Taita Taveta, Nakuru, Narok, Bomet, Elgeyo Marakwet, Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, Uasin Gishu and West Pokot; other potato producing counties include Kisii, Nyamira, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Baringo, Nandi, Laikipia and Kericho.

Upcoming potential potato producing counties include Machakos, Makueni, Embu, Kajiado, Tharaka Nithi, Samburu, Kwale and Nairobi. The leading production counties are Nyandarua (29.8 %), Nakuru (18.9 %) and Elgeyo Marakwet (16.2 %).

Farmers countrywide harvest 60-80 bags of 110 kilograms per acre while small holder farmers harvest 30-50 bags of 110 kilograms per acre; this against a potential production of 150 bags per hectare for a 110 kilogram bag.

“A majority of potato farmers keep recycling seeds due to inadequate availability of clean disease free potato seeds in the country,” said Maureen Mwagangi, a plant inspector at KEPHIS.

“We certify all seed producers including smallholder farmers who produce potato seeds for sale,”

Farmers can purchase certified potato seeds from Edward Mbugua, 0722 734 919 or Kisima farm- 0721 325 269.

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