The report that Kenya has lost a share of its global horticultural market over the past five years should send the national and county authorities back to the drawing board. The national government should take the first step of convening a meeting involving all industry stakeholders including farmers, exporters, inputs suppliers, inspection agencies and financiers. This meeting should slowly come up with a blue print that would guide the industry over the short-and mid-term period.
This meeting would be mandated to come up with solutions on all the challenges currently holding back the sub-sector whose valiant efforts have so far managed to wrest only 1.23 per cent of the global market share. The source of funding for initiatives dealing with these problems would also have to be identified. This might mean a mandatory invitation of the country’s development partners currently involved in the sub-sector including the European Union and United States Agency for International Development (USAid).
Over Reliance
Top on the list of the challenges facing the sub-sector is over-reliance on one or two markets. This explains why there was a near panic last year when the EU imposed new import taxes on the local produce following a failure by both parties to sign a new trade protocol in time. These near-cardiac arrests could have been avoided had the country got other major outlets.
Entire value chain
Second, ways should be devised to increase the value of the country’s exports both in terms of per capita and per hectare. Interestingly, this is an area currently dominated by Morocco and Egypt, countries that depend on irrigation as opposed to Kenya which is still wedded to rain-fed agriculture despite its increasing unreliability due to the unfolding, but little understood, climatic changes.
Morocco and Egypt, both arid countries, last year, exported goods valued at $132 (Sh12,012) and $69 (Sh6,279) per capita respectively while Kenya managed a paltry $8 (Sh728) worth of produce per capita. Clearly, there is an urgent need to review the entire value chain beginning with the land preparation, the choice of crop to plant, inputs to use and the export/local market.
Cost of Inputs
Third, the review would point the way forward on the cost of inputs which are not only high in the region—compared to prices in Uganda and Tanzania— but are still higher when compared to the country’s major competitors in, and outside, Africa.
While addressing this issue, farmers would be encouraged to move into higher value crops such as avocadoes, apples and passion fruits which are particularly in high demand in Europe where the crops do not do well because of the region’s weather patterns. It’s a sad reality that despite commanding good prices, expansion of land is held back by the small-holder farmers’ lack of credit and market.
Logistics
Fourth, the national government would need to take a keen interest in the transport logistics of these crops especially on the route from the farm to Mombasa. The current situation whereby it costs as much to take a container from Nairobi to Mombasa as from the same port to Rotterdam, Holland is inexcusable. It is a hurdle that must be removed fast.
Branding
Fifth, the continued lack of branding of Kenyan produce is yet another scandal that should not be allowed to go on much longer. The shame of exporting local potatoes and fresh beans as Irish and French should jolt the country’s marketers into action. Nothing should be allowed to hold these efforts back. Not now or ever.
