Kenya and Netherlands will electronically certify the export of plants and plant produce under a new deal.
The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service electronic system (KEPHIS) and Netherlands Food and Consumer Safety Authority signed the agreement.
The electronic phytosanitary certificate provides a guarantee that the conditions in the plant consignments are met. The certificate therefore will eliminate fraud, save time and resources.
The EPhyto is also in real time as Kenyan inspectors send the information of a consignment, which is received in real time to the exporting country.
In addition, the Ephyto can integrate to other systems for instance for KenTrade.
The two standard bodies aim at having paperless certifications.
The concept has been internationally accepted and has been adopted by more than 70 countries, including EU member states.
Agriculture Principal Secretary in the State Department for crop development Kellow Harsama said digitalisation would increase investment attractiveness and innovation for Kenya and The Netherlands.
He said the process improves a business efficiency and productivity, resource management through automation of processes; lowers operational costs, enhances transparency and better communication and amplifies customer experience.
“While we celebrate this milestone, we realise that innovation is a dynamic process. Therefore, we continue to explore more opportunities for innovation so that we can deliver efficient and cost effective service to our stakeholders,” said KEPHIS Managing Director Theophilus Mutui.
Currently all plant exports must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate (s) posing challenges such as documents not arriving with consignments, typographical errors, additional declarations missing, absence of a phytosanitary certificate and incomplete phytosanitary certificates.
Mutui said the system has simplified the phytosanitary (plant health) regulation processes and increased efficiency, improved user experience and cut operational costs.
The Netherlands said that while inspections will be done as usual, phytosanitary certificates will be digitally generated which would eliminate intermediaries.
