Workers pack fruits for export at the Eldoret International Airport. EAC is raising concern that the lure of exports could expose region to food insecurity due to limited trade. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
Lured by premium returns, farmers in eastern Africa are opting to ship out choice produce to overseas outlets, leaving buyers in the region disadvantaged.
The trend is slowing down the overall growth of the region because of minimised trade between neighbouring economies.
Lack of uniform food safety standards and other technical barriers have been blamed for high food prices in East Africa.
East African food markets are grappling with challenges of low quality supplies as growers keep best produce for regions such as Europe.
Lured by premium returns, farmers in eastern Africa are opting to ship out choice produce to overseas outlets, leaving buyers in the region disadvantaged.
“We tend to pay more attention on the quality of export products than what we trade in the region,” Jesca Eriyo, the East African Community deputy secretary-general in charge of Productive and Social sectors told a food safety conference in Nairobi Tuesday.
“This is hurting confidence among regional traders.”
The trend is slowing down the overall growth of the region because of minimised trade between neighbouring economies.
“A lot of money is now used elsewhere to get quality food instead of fighting poverty in the region. We are, however, not opposed to trading with external partners such as Europe,” Ms Eriyo said.
Moustapha Magumu, a member of the European Union (EU) delegation to the African Union (AU), said lack of common food safety standards is also hurting trade in the region and urged for uniform measures.
“Coming up with common food safety standards for Africa is key to addressing challenges such as non-tariff barriers,” he told the conference.
Ms Eriyo said EAC partners would fast-track the implementation of a Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Standards (SPS) protocol that was approved by the bloc’s Heads of State last November in a bid to boost trade.
It said in Kenya sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures cover 70 per cent of all food products while technical barriers to trade (TBT) cover 60 per cent of foods, three times more than in other countries.
“Their price-raising effect is typically a by-product of the measures which have non-trade objectives such as public health,” the Bank said in a report titled Walking on a tightrope.
Because of this, the World Bank said, prices of key food items such as rice, bread, cereals and flour, sugar, fruits and vegetables are 30 per cent higher despite the surplus stocks in the region.
“For example, due to SPS measures, the poorest 20 per cent of households in Kenya will experience on average 23 per cent rise in goods they purchased, compared to only a 14 per cent rise in goods purchased for the 20 per cent richest households,” the bank said.
Mr Magumu said the harmonisation of food safety standards had helped member states of the EU to remove barriers to trade.
“The EU took deliberate steps to have harmonised standards to guard against non-tariff-barriers. This has improved trade,” he said.
Thorough scrutiny
The European Parliament has adopted uniform measures on food safety in which all consignments entering the bloc must be subjected to thorough scrutiny right from origin.
Under the new regulations, exporters to the EU are required to fill a Common Entry Document (CED) which would be counterchecked by authorities to confirm compliance with all safety controls on harmful elements such as aflatoxins, pesticide residues and metals such as lead.
