Industry leaders express great hope in horticulture sector performance in Kenya

0
1705

The future of Kenya’s horticulture sector is poised to improve twofold in the coming years if farmers and traders uphold food production safety measure which guarantees safe trade and increased income for smallholders especially in the global food markets.

According to Okisegere Ojepat, Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya (FPC Kenya) CEO, the country’s international market share for horticulture produce is currently at 4-5 per cent but with proper education to smallholder farmers who are the majority producers, Kenya will increase its export market share to 10 per cent soon.

“We have to start by aligning our domestic food production processes from planting, harvesting and transporting of fresh produce from the point of production to various market destinations to ensure that the food reaching consumers are of designed quality,” said Ojepat adding that consumers should start asking the source, quality and certification of the foods they want to buy.

In this, experts in the horticulture value chain last year started activation of KS 1758-2:2016 Code of Practice or Standard in the sector that aims at providing rules for safe and sustainable production and supply of fruits and vegetables in Kenya for both export and domestic markets.

The Horticulture Code of Practice – Part 2 applies to all players or operators involved in the primary production, processing, transportation and marketing of fruits and vegetables in Kenya to promote good agricultural practices, protect consumers and promote compliance with applicable laws and regulations among others.

“The future for our horticulture crop farmers is bright as market is available. We have therefore been urging the growers to be in groups for ease of offering them trainings as we strive to ensure that food safety which is the future of the sector is observed at all levels,” said Ojepat.

Of course, this has been coupled with identification of other actors such as regional or county agricultural officers for capacity building with key targets on herbs and avocadoes which are becoming major export commodities among fruits and vegetables in the horticulture segment.

To the advantage of the producers is that, Kenya sits pretty as far as its weather and climatic conditions are concerned for the production of herbs and spices both for outdoor and indoor farming and with good agricultural practices, finding market will never be a bother.

According to 2017 research on Food safety, trade, standards and the integration of smallholders into value chains by John Humphrey for International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), new opportunities are emerging for smallholder farmers as a result of changes in both global and domestic markets.

This is because over the past few decades, trade in agricultural products has increased substantially, and particularly so for high-value crops. At the same time, rising incomes and urbanization in developing countries and emerging markets have increased opportunities within domestic markets.

However, food safety is now a major concern for both consumers and governments in developed and developing countries. If smallholder farmers are unable to meet food safety challenges, then they risk exclusion from these growing markets and the loss of opportunities to grow and sell their products.

This is a disadvantage on the side of the small-scale farmers whose livelihood depends to a substantial extent on improving access to markets for their crops.

This is why Kenya’s horticultural sector (fruit, flowers and vegetable production and marketing) has received a great deal of attention over the past decade due to the rapid and sustained growth of its exports to Europe and other global markets.

The impressive growth has undoubtedly contributed to increased rural incomes and reduced rural poverty in Kenya.  Yet despite this growth, exports remain a small fraction of Kenya’s overall horticultural sector.

According to starts by Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, for the past decade, over 90 per cent of all fruit and vegetable production was consumed domestically, and the domestic market accounted for over 90 per cent of the total growth in quantity of fruit and vegetable production.  While over 90 per cent of smallholder farmers in all but the arid regions of Kenya produce horticultural products, fewer than 2% do so directly for export.