Kenya, alongside Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Ethiopia, is set to benefit from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa's (COMESA) initiative aimed at reducing post-harvest losses in the horticulture sector. The COMESA-EAC Horticultural Accelerator (CEHA) programme is designed to enhance production, distribution, access to quality seeds, and establish standards for traceability, ultimately improving the value chain's efficiency. The initiative, which acknowledges the horticulture sub-sector's post-harvest losses of up to 60%, aims to lower these losses to 40% or below within five years.
COMESA's Assistant Secretary General, Mohamed Kadah, highlighted the programme's bottom-up approach, emphasizing the identification of strategic priorities by national-level stakeholders, particularly from the private sector. The programme focuses on the modernization of horticulture value chains across East Africa, targeting key crops such as potatoes, avocados, and onions. With Kenya being the inaugural country for this initiative, the programme aspires to achieve a trade value of $25 million for fruits and vegetables in the COMESA-EAC region by 2031. This effort is expected to significantly boost global exports from the current $416 million to $950 million over the next seven years.
CEHA regional coordinator, Apollo Owuor, stressed the importance of addressing post-harvest losses through the adoption of existing technologies in storage and transport. He also pointed out the necessity of improving production and implementing traceability for onions and potatoes to tap into larger markets. The Kenyan government, recognizing the potential for growth in agricultural exports, is focusing on enhancing the quality and traceability of key commodities like avocados and Irish potatoes, aiming to expand production and reduce the reliance on imports.
Source: the-star.co.ke