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Kenya Earned Sh115 Billion from Fresh Produce Exports in 2017

BY Soko Directory Team · April 20, 2018 06:04 am

Kenya’s earnings from fresh produce exports in 2017 jumped to 115.25 billion shillings, an 11 percent increase over 2016 earnings.

Unveiling the statistics, Mr Okesegere Ojepat, Chief Executive Officer of Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya Consortium (FPC Kenya) said the sector remained resilient amid political and economic uncertainties of 2017.

“We laud the resilience of the fresh produce sector in the eye of the political and economic storm witnessed in 2017 and we are happy with the performance. This is the similar resilience that enabled the sector weather the Brexit shock, pointing to the greater potential of the sector,” said Mr Ojepat.

The data released by FPC Kenya showed flower exports contributed 82.24 billion shillings up from 70.83 billion shillings earned in 2016, representing 11.6 percent growth, on export volume of 159,961 tonnes.

Fruits and vegetables earned 9 billion shillings and 24 billion shillings, on export volumes of 56,945 tonnes and 87,240 tonnes, respectively.  The cut-flower export still remains the largest earner, contributing over 70 percent of the total fresh produce annual earnings.

Last year, the fresh produce sector earned 305 billion shillings, a figure which Mr Ojepat believe is higher as a bigger portion of trade at the domestic market levels is not captured.

The fresh produce sector has faced several challenges including lack of traceability of system for the fresh produce, high cost of production, lack of extension services, poor information follows, brokers/middlemen menace, insufficient cooling facilities, weak compliance to food safety requirements, and taxation issues.

Mr Ojepat noted that FPC Kenya was seeking to fill in the gaps and help in smoothening the information follow between various stakeholders, help structure the market by in-cooperation all value chain actors, encouraging and strengthening market and market linkages, supporting production systems in counties, encouraging consultation processes, encouraging relevant institutions particularly private sector to invest in cold chain, and building partnerships with multi-sector partners.

“Going forward FPC Kenya will focus on ensuring proper representation, lobbying and advocacy for its members, capacity building, food safety, food and nutritional security, food loss and waste, and trade, which we believe will enable us to expand the fresh produce sector in terms of production capacity and earnings,” he said.

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