• The move comes days after Trade CS Moses Kuria lifted the ban on the exportation of raw macadamia nuts that was imposed in 2015.
• Murango has been leading the push to lift the ban, arguing the blanket ban has opened floodgates for brokers who exploited farmers.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Macadamia, cashew nuts and bixa farmers could reap big from their produce as senators push for eternal lifting of the ban on nut exports.
Kirinyaga Senator James Murango has moved an amendment to the Agriculture and Food Authority Act, 2013, that gives leeway for banning exportation of the products.
“The laws are discriminating against macadamia, cashew nuts and bixa farmers,” Murango, who chairs the Senate agriculture committee, said.
The move comes days after Trade CS Moses Kuria lifted the ban on the exportation of raw macadamia nuts that was imposed in 2015.
The CS said the one-year temporary lifting of the ban is aimed at freeing the product to the foreign market.
“We are lifting the ban on exportation of raw macadamia to a year to bring into the country other buyers from all over the world. This will open the market for competitiveness,” Kuria said.
Murango has been leading the push to lift the ban, arguing the blanket ban has opened floodgates for brokers who exploited farmers.
In his Bill, the lawmaker has proposed amendments to Section 43 of the Agriculture and Food Authority Act, 2013.
The section restricts local farmers from exporting the nuts except with a written authority of the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary.
“Four years ago, the nuts used to go for Sh180 a kilo when the Chinese were buying the nuts but now the prices have been slashed,” Murango said in his justification for the Bill.
“Today, 150g of macadamia costs Sh505 in the supermarket or about Sh3,600 per kg. But the broker buys the same quantity at between Sh20 and Sh30 from the farmer. Isn’t that exploitation?"
The Bill is set for introduction in the Senate for the first reading.
The importation of nuts and oil crop products is subject to the terms and conditions as specified in the guidelines such as adherence to the local and international standards.
The Crops (Nuts and Oil Crops) Regulations 2020, importers and exporters must be a corporate body registered in Kenya with a valid tax compliance certificate.
Each consignment exported or imported is required to be accompanied by an import permit or certificate.
Kenya has around 200,000 macadamia small farms spread across Embu, Meru, Machakos, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Taita Taveta, Tharaka Nithi, Baringo, Murang’a and Nyeri.
Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Bungoma, Kakamega and Nandi counties have joined the troop with high global demand leading to a local mad rush to grow the crop.
The farms currently produce an estimated 41,000 tonnes in-shell nuts, constituting about 20 per cent of global supply.
Processing companies have set up shop in Murang’a, Embu, Taita Taveta and are now expanding to Bungoma. So far, the country has more than 30 industries buying nuts from farmers, with most simply processing the produce for export.
On the other hand, coastal Kenya has a higher concentration of cashew nut trees with almost 70,000 smallholder farmers along the coastline.
The nuts are in high demand in Germany and Nordic countries and in 2015, Kenya exported 600 metric tonnes of cashew kernels.
Narok Senator Ledama Olekina has instead said the legislation was made to kill the economy and promote cartels and brokers, saying the provision of the law has seen farmers terrorised by brokers.
He decried that despite about 90 per cent of macadamia produced in Kenya is meant for export, farmers cannot sell directly to the export market.
The senator said that although global prices for raw macadamia range between Sh90 and Sh120 a kilo, local farmers are getting a paltry Sh20 a kilo.
Embu Senator Alexander Mundigi, in a request for statement, asked the committee to inquire whether there were plans to lift the ban and measures put in place by the government to avoid price fluctuations of raw macadamia nuts.
He also wants to know the steps being taken to boost income from exports in a free market considering the Agriculture and Food Authority has lowered the per-kilogramme price from Sh200 to Sh30.
“The committee should provide information on whether local macadamia nut companies have the capacity to process and market the nuts for small-scale farmers,” he said.