•President William Ruto had said Kenya will accelerate her relations with morocco, just one day after being sworn in as President.
•The areas he mentioned include agriculture, trade, tourism, health and energy among others.
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
Kenya is set to benefit more from her ties with Morocco beyond the fertilizer imports, experts have said.
President William Ruto had said Kenya will accelerate her relations with morocco, just one day after being sworn in as President.
The areas he mentioned include agriculture, trade, tourism, health and energy among others.
The announcement by Ruto received mixed reactions from both Kenyans and foreign policy analysts.
Until then, Kenya has been one of about 20 African countries that were in support of the Sahrawi Republic and had even maintained diplomatic relations with them.
Kenya relies heavily on agriculture for both sustainability of food and of income.
Most of the fertilizer imports have always come from Russia with data by the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade showing that Kenya spent around Usd63.21 million in 2021 on these imports.
Moroccan Ambassador in Kenya Abdelrazaak Laasel while speaking in Gigiri early this week said that in the spirit of promoting food sustainability and security in Africa, Morocco sells its fertilizers at huge discounts to African countries.
“To some countries, we sell at a 20% discount, which is a significant amount considering the general prices of the fertilizers are already low, while some others get it at an even lower price, depending on the financial ability of the countries in need,” Laasel said.
This means that Morocco will henceforth provide Kenya with most fertilisers at a cheaper price.
Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya leader Raila Odinga has admitted that the ties between the two countries was important.
“The relationship between Kenya and Morocco is of great importance, and can be very beneficial (to both countries),” he said.
Experts now say apart from agriculture, Kenyan tourism sector also stands to benefit through marketing and promotion from the Maroc, who get about 14 million visitors per year on average compared to the two million tourists Kenya gets.
Sources have intimated that plans are underway to create a North- East trans-continental Tourism Belt, so that, Kenya may also receive visitors from Morocco and vice versa, not just the natives of both countries.
For instance, a European tourist visiting the mountains and desert of Marrakesh can jump on a plain and be in Maasai Mara hours later for a safari holiday.
“These two countries’ economies are complementary, not competing,” a source with the United Nations in Nairobi said.
“Kenya has tea while Morocco is a tea-drinking country and the 8th biggest importer of tea globally. On the other hand, we have fertilizers that Kenya needs, to boost its agricultural economy,” the source added.
Although President Ruto retracted his earlier decision, an official within the Ministry of Foreign affairs has described him as “a pragmatic gentleman who deals in practical trade-offs and politics, not from ideological stands on conflicts that are of no benefit to Kenya.”
This comes even as the government lowered prices of fertilizer in the country.
The National Cereals and Produce Board early this week began the distribution of the low-cost fertilizer from its depots and sub-depots countrywide.
A 50 kg bag of DAP and Urea is now retailing at Sh3,500, CAN at Sh2,875, NPK at Sh3,275, Sulphate of Ammonia at Sh2,220 and MOP at just Sh1,775.