The first cargo plane of pineapples from Kenya will leave the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for Israel on June 1, Parliament heard on Monday.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi told MPs that Kenya had inked a deal with the Jewish State that will see all Kenyan goods that are admissible in the European Union access the Israel market.
“We have managed to secure markets for our tea, coffee, avocado and pineapple. In fact, on June 1, 2023, we will get the first cargo plane to Israel to export pineapples,” Mr Linturi told the National Assembly’s Committee on Agriculture.
He appeared before the committee to explain the ministry’s budget for the financial year 2023/24.
President William Ruto last week struck a deal allowing Kenyan farmers to export their produce to Israel from next month.
Speaking during the Israel Investor Roundtable Forum in Tel Aviv, President Ruto said: "Whatever products Kenya exports to Europe will also be exported to Israel from June 5."
Kenya supplies the best tea and coffee in the world. Kenyan tea is used to blend teas from other countries to [add] flavour.
“Instead of buying blended tea or coffee, Kenya is ready to supply Israel with premium tea and coffee at the same price you buy second or even third-class tea elsewhere," President Ruto told Israeli investors.
Kenya's earnings from tea exports rose to Sh138 billion ($1.07 billion) last year from Sh136 billion in 2021, according to the Tea Board of Kenya.
Kenya's avocado exports are mainly to China, which reached Sh7 billion in the three months to October 2022, according to the Directorate of Horticulture.
