Kenyan Standards and Certification bodies receive Kshs1.4 billion to enhance quality assessment of exports

By Nancy Karanja
The European Union Head of Delegation to Kenya, together with the Cabinet Secretaries for the National Treasury, Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries yesterday launched the Standards and Market Access Programme [SMAP] to enhance quality and compliance to standards for export and internal market food products.
 

The Launch of the Standards and Market Access Programme [SMAP] comes a few weeks after KEPHIS recommended to de-licence a number of local exporting firms.

This was due to higher than recommended levels of pesticide residues and presence of harmful organisms despite the government's efforts to remove from the horticulture value-chain non-complying producers and exporters.  

Speaking during the launch of the programme,Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Felix Koskei noted, “The aim of the Standards and Market Access Programme is to strengthen Kenya's regulatory framework and the country's capacity for certification of animal and plant based products.” 

Under SMAP the Kenya Bureau of Standards, the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate, Services and the Department of Veterinary Services will receive support – technical and financial - to develop standards and quality regulations and to provide market certification to ensure conformity to market requirements.

The programme will also fund the purchase of the State of the Art laboratory equipment to carry out tests that will ensure the quality and safety of Kenyan products. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) will contribute to achieving SMAP's objectives by increasing the capacity of local producers, processors and traders of plant and animal-based products to meet SPS and commercial standards and to improve the demand for rigorous certification systems.

According to Ambassador Briet, “The launch of SMAP is a show of EU’s commitment to our long trading partnership with Kenya. The SMAP will be able to contribute to the domestication of international standards for animal and plant-based products; enhance the capacities of key Kenyan institutions in the enforcement of standards for animal and plant- based products and in service delivery; and broaden the demand for SPS testing and standardization of quality in animal and plant based products." 

It is expected that by the end of the implementation period in 2017 there will be an increase in the number of international animal and plant based standards complied with by Kenyan products, which will help reduce the current trade deficit from Kenyan exports.