The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries (MOALF) through Horticultural Crops Directorate (HCD) of Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) in collaboration with the horticulture exporters Associations of Kenya (FPEAK and KFC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID, through its Kenya Agricultural Value chain Enterprise (KAVES) project; have developed an online National Horticulture Traceability System (HTS).
The cloud-based system is unique to Kenya and will make it possible for any shipment that does not comply with market standards on arrival in the export market to be traced back to source, and remedial action taken immediately.
The system was developed to increase transparency and accountability in horticultural supply chains in response to recent challenges faced by the industry in complying with EU and international food safety requirements. These include lack of a national traceability system for horticulture produce; frequent interceptions of exports due to excessive pesticide maximum residue levels; and the presence of regulated pests in export consignments. These challenges pose a threat to the competitiveness of Kenyan horticulture exports, which are currently valued at KES 90 billion (USD 888 million) annually with 80 percent going to EU markets.
The National Horticulture Traceability System has been developed over the last 18 months through a pilot phase involving 12 export companies and 1,460 smallholders growing beans and peas in 10 countries. The system has three main components: a mobile app for registering farmers and capturing routine farm operations and agronomic practices; a web reporting portal for sharing information among stakeholders; and a barcode and Quick Reference (QR) code printing module.
The HTS is customized for Kenya’s smallholder-based export industry and can accommodate up to one million farmers. The HTS has the capacity to identify the exact source of a shipment through its GPS coordinates, and generate online production and handling reports required by the market. Deployment of the HTS will increase market confidence and safeguard more than 2.5 million smallholder farmers and workers involved in export horticulture. The system will increase the competitiveness of Kenyan horticulture exports through enhanced transparency in the supply chain. It will facilitate a rapid response to food safety risks by providing the capacity to identify, isolate, and rectify non-compliant producers; and expedite responses to pest and disease early warning alerts by locating affected areas.
The HTS system will place Kenya at the leading edge of countries supplying the EU market with horticultural crops.
The National Horticulture Traceability System was launched Thursday September 8, 2016 at the KALRO National Agriculture Research Laboratories (NARL). The launch was officiated by the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries, Hon. Willy Bett and the USAID Assistant to the Administrator Bureau of Food Security, Beth Dunford.
For more information:
USAID-KAVES
The Managing Director- Horticultural Crops Directorate
The Director General- Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA)