Kenya and Uganda are seeking to increase cross-border maize trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with Kenya calling for better post-harvest handling of Ugandan grain to address food safety concerns.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said Uganda was well placed to supply part of Kenya’s maize requirements but needed to improve maize drying before the grain is exported.
“We need a system in Uganda where maize is dried before it crosses the border. We can buy, but we need aflatoxin-free maize,” Mr Kagwe said.
He said high moisture levels and aflatoxin concerns had made some Kenyan millers reluctant to buy maize from Uganda, limiting trade opportunities for farmers and businesses on both sides of the border.
Mr Kagwe was speaking during a meeting with Uganda’s Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, where the two countries discussed ways of increasing agricultural trade and investment.
He said food safety requirements would remain in place even as Kenya seeks to remove barriers to regional trade.
“We have to ease off these small tariff and non-tariff barriers. We have to look for ways in agriculture where it is a win-win situation,” he said.
The push comes as African countries seek to increase intra-African trade through AfCFTA, which aims to reduce trade barriers and create a larger single market for goods and services.
The Ugandan delegation called for the harmonisation of agricultural and trade rules within the East African Community to make it easier to move agricultural produce across borders while maintaining safety and quality standards.
The legislators also identified inadequate financing, climate change, water for production, pests and diseases, energy costs, cold storage, extension services, weak markets and limited value addition as some of the challenges facing agriculture.
Agricultural financing emerged as a key concern, with the Ugandan delegation saying the sector receives about 2.2 percent of the country’s national budget.
National Assembly Agriculture and Livestock Committee chairperson John Mutunga said Kenya also needs to increase investment in agriculture if the sector is to generate more jobs.
“If we fund education at 24.7 percent, we are putting more resources to create demand for jobs. If we fund agriculture at less than 5 percent, we are constraining the sector that would create those jobs,” Dr Mutunga said.
