• Agriculture is the leading employer of more than 80 per cent of the population.
• Uganda and Tanzania are the main exporters to Kenya within EAC.
Image: CHARLES MGHENYI
East African Community member states have been urged to adopt initiatives that promote intra-trade.
East African Community Principal Secretary Abdi Dubat said the region's economies and livelihoods of citizens are predominantly dependent on agriculture.
The agricultural sector accounts for 25 per cent to 40 per cent of the gross domestic product of EAC partner states (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and the Republic of South Sudan).
It is the leading employer of more than 80 per cent of the population.
In a statement on Tuesday, Dubat said cooperation in agriculture and food security is one of the priorities that feature prominently in the EAC integration process.
Several initiatives have been developed to promote intra-EAC trade and there is an ongoing campaign to promote their adoption by partner states.
“One of the initiatives is the directive to have harmonised regulations in licensing and handling of farm inputs across the EAC member states,” Dubat said.
“This initiative aims at easing the cost of production and opening new markets for stakeholders engaged in trading with inputs, including pesticides and fertilisers.”
Kenya’s trade with the East African Community's partner states increased by 8.8 per cent in 2022, from $1.65 billion in 2021 to $1.79 billion.
This was captured in the EAC Trade and Investment Report 2022. It was the highest value compared to trade values between Kenya and other regional blocs.
Uganda and Tanzania are the main exporters to Kenya within EAC.
Kenya imports unmanufactured tobacco, cane or beet sugar, leguminous vegetables, maize, fowl and milk cream from Uganda, while the main agricultural product from Tanzania is maize.
Kenya’s main exports to the EAC region include construction materials (cement, iron and steel, paints and varnishes, paperboard), petroleum products, beer, salt, pharmaceutical products, edible oils and detergents.
By 2021, the largest export market for Kenyan products within the EAC was 30 per cent to Uganda, 15 per cent to Tanzania, 10 per cent to Rwanda and eight per cent to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
However, Dubat said there are still challenges that face intra-trade within the EAC community. They include technological constraints, market access barriers, non-tariff barriers and poor market linkages.
“Informality of cross-border trade and non-tariff barriers, such as cumbersome administrative procedures, regardless of the desire of the common market protocol and the slow pace in domestication and implementation of instruments adopted at the regional level, are some of the constraints to trade facilitation,” he said.
Dubat said most smallholder producers are unable to meet the stringent market requirements due to low production and low quality of produce.
“We also have the issue of non-compliance with quality and safety standards, especially in the domestic market and low adoption of good agricultural practices," he said.
“We also have the problem of poor market linkages through which exploitive middlemen take advantage to form cartels at the expense of the producers."
Dubat said the EAC Council of Ministers has issued a directive to harmonise food (plants and animals) handling measures and implement the sanitary and phytosanitary protocol.
He said the proposed Bill will not only improve trading within the EAC but even outside the EAC region.
“The SPS protocol guidelines promote trading in safe and quality agricultural food materials,” the PS said.
Another initiative is the EAC Strategy on Competitive African Rice Initiative, which seeks to enhance production and marketing of rice.
“With local production of rice, there will be a reduction in importation of the product, hence saving the country the highly desired foreign exchange,” he said.
In livestock production, various initiatives, including the prevention and control of transboundary animal diseases and zoonotic diseases, are being championed in the EAC partner states.
“These animal diseases are the major non-tariff barriers to intra- and extra-EAC trading and adversely impact animal health, public health, and wildlife conservation,” Dubat said.