There has been a decrease in the number of interceptions done on Kenya's export produce destined to the European Union market.
This is owing to the stringent food safety measures being taken by the relevant regulators.
According to the Horticultural Crops Directorate, the number of interceptions done on export produce from January to October this year is at 11 per cent compared to 40 per cent last year.
This is a significant decrease of close to 60 per cent interceptions in the last five years.
The interceptions are due to various reasons including high levels of maximum residue level (MRL) in the produce.
The European Commission defines MRL as the highest level of a pesticide residue in food or feed, that is legally tolerated when a plant protection product is applied correctly, or good agricultural practice.
The European Commission fixes MRLs for all food and animal feed, and the amounts of residues found in food must be safe for consumers and must be as low as possible.
Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi said in order to improve more on food safety measures, the Horticulture Crops Directorate has developed a national traceability system.
The traceability system will be used to trace produce from farm to market.
He said the government has identified five key priorities to enhance growth in new jobs created and growth in incomes.
“One of the priorities is agriculture, with three critical areas pinpointed, namely; increasing food security; reducing imports disparity and grow exports earnings,” the CS said. He spoke during the handing over ceremony of the National Horticulture Traceability System.
Linturi said the horticulture industry is the leading sub-sector especially in production of export produce.
In 2022, Kenya exported 391,507 tons of horticulture produce valued at Sh147 billion.
This consisted of flowers at 71 per cent, vegetables at 16 per cent and fruits at 13 per cent by value.
“The European Union, particularly Netherlands, are the major buyers of flowers followed by Australia. The major buyers of our vegetables are the EU and UK while buyers of fruits include the EU and Middle East countries," Linturi said.
"Emerging markets include China, Malaysia, Eastern Europe, Scandinavian and Northern Africa countries, Romania and India which recently received the first shipment of Kenyan avocado,” the CS said.
He added that Kenya is currently the leading exporter of avocado in Africa and ranked among the top 10 world avocado exporters.
In 2022, the country exported avocado valued at Sh15.5 billion.
Linturi said despite the successes of this lucrative horticulture industry, the sector still faces several challenges.
He said at farm level are high input costs, inadequate extension services, inadequate infrastructure (irrigation, packhouse facilities) and climate change.
At market level, the challenges include stiff competition in the export markets, and stringent European consumer demands.
This is in addition to sanitary & phytosanitary requirements, high cost of compliance to market standards and need for traceability among others.
Lack of traceability systems by our exporters especially small-to medium scale, means non-conformities identified at any level cannot easily be traced back to production sites, hence corrective actions cannot be instituted.
This, he said, presents a food safety risk which therefore cannot be mitigated.
"Lack of traceability systems also translate to reduced preference for our produce and even loss of market to our competitors,” Linturi said.
The online National Horticulture Traceability System has been developed to address some of the challenges.
This is thanks to the partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development through the AFA—Horticultural Crops Directorate and the USAID funded RTI—KCDMS.
“The deployment of this system will go a long way in addressing the issues with regard to market requirements and compliance for both the domestic and international markets. Competitiveness of Kenya’s horticulture produce strictly lies on compliance to quality, food safety, hygiene and traceability," the CS said, adding that Kenya has the ability to deliver.
Agriculture and Food Authority chairman Cornelly Serem said the traceability system is meant to automate the process of fresh produce traceability from farm to market.
He explained the system was developed to increase transparency and accountability in horticultural supply chains.
This is in response to recent challenges faced by the industry in complying with the EU and international food safety requirements.
“These requirements include lack of a national traceability system for horticultural produce and frequent interceptions of exports due to excessive pesticide residue limits and the presence of regulated pests in export consignments," he said.
Serem added that these challenges pose a threat to the competitiveness of Kenyan horticulture exports to the EU, which is our main market.
He added that implementation of this system will bring about a paradigm shift not only in the horticulture sector.
Serem said the system should be integrated with that of other relevant government agencies such as PCPB and KEPHIS for ease of access by stakeholders.
