China’s Deal to Provide Kenyan Farmers with Over 40 Percent Fresh Produce Market

President Uhuru Kenyatta will travel to China in November to sign a deal for the exportation of avocados, cashew nuts and mangoes. 

President Uhuru, in a meeting at State House on Thursday, revealed that he would lead a strong delegation that would include horticultural farmers and traders for the first Shanghai Import Expo in China.

The President said the agreement would include the exportation of stevia which is a sweetener grown in the Rift Valley.

Among the deals will be the Sanitary and Phytosanitary deal which will allow the exportation of over 40 percent of Kenya’s fresh produce to the Shanghai Import Expo in China.

The President is also scheduled to sign a MoU for the formation of a trade negotiation group which will be mandated to negotiate trade tariffs especially on Kenya’s tea and coffee exports to China.

This has come after the President banned Chinese fish following complaints from the local fishers.

“I have been told about the imported fish from China. It is not possible that we import Chinese fish when our local traders are here,” the President said.

The deal the President is expected to sign is likely not to be affected by his ban on Chinese fish as it will be as a result of bilateral talks with President Xi Jinping on trade during the China-Africa Forum for Cooperation (FOCAC) 2018 Summit.

The deal has come amid fears of China trapping Kenya and other African Countries into what has been widely referred to as China’s debt-diplomacy as the Asian country remains Africa’s biggest lender.

President Uhuru’s State House meeting discussed, among other things, ways to get the financing of Phase 2B of the Standard Gauge Railway which will be from Naivasha to Kisumu County and the financing for the Western Bypass in Nairobi.