The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services is seeking to amend the law for better management of emerging pests and diseases.
Kephis phytosanitary services general manager Isaac Macharia said the Plant Protection Act was first developed in 1937 and then reviewed in 1972.
He spoke on Friday during the official introduction of the new managing director Theophilus Mutui who took over from Esther Kimani at the KEPHIS headquarters.
Macharia said one of the issues the Bill will be reviewing is the risk of introduction of pests and diseases into the country.
“In the recent past, we have had a few pest outbreaks like the desert locusts, fall army worm and the maize lethal necrosis disease. So the Bill will be addressing what should be done in case a disease occurs in Kenya. And the mechanism that should be put in place to ensure proper management or eradication if the disease is there,” Macharia said.
He said the Bill will also provide a mechanism for certification of export products and how to deal with challenges in the market.
“Kenya has strong export destination for its horticulture products such as mangoes and other products like tea and coffee. There is therefore a need to develop a proper certification system before the products go to Europe and other destinations,” Macharia said.
Mutui, who was previously working at the National Biosafety Authority as the acting director technical services, said they will also be addressing the ban on mango exports due to the fruit fly.
The pest was first reported in 2003 after which many countries banned export of mangoes from Kenya. EU imposed a ban in 2014 after interceptions of many mango consignments from the country due to the fruit fly.
This followed a temporary self-imposed ban and to address the problem Kephis started a campaign known as Komesha Fruit fly in January this year.
Mutui said the campaign was aimed at creating pest free areas and sensitise farmers on the need to apply integrated pest management.
“So far we have pest free areas in Makueni and plan to develop hot water treatment where mangoes will be stored in temperatures of 46-47 degrees Celsius to kill the pests,” Mutui said.
“We hope to be able to have addressed this problem in the next mango season from July 2021 so that we can resume exportation in Europe.”
Edited by Henry Makori
