COLEACP’s EU-funded NExT Kenya (New Export Trade) programme was launched digitally in July 2020. Here we bring you up to date on activities since then.

NAIROBI OFFICE

Technical and administrative staff for the Nairobi office will be recruited by the end of 2020.

SYNERGIES

In the meantime, the COLEACP team in charge of Kenya operations has been managing our initial NExT activities in synergy with our existing programmes operating in Kenya – Fit For Market and Fit For Market SPS.

ACTIVITIES

We are already analysing requests for NExT programme support from a number of Kenyan institutions – including the Association of Kenya Mango Traders, Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya (FPC-Kenya), Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK), Horticultural Crops Directorate (HCD), Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (KEPROBA), Kenya Flower Council (KFC), Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), Kenyatta University, Pest Control Products Board (PCPB), Retail Trade Association of Kenya (RETRAK) – as well as 10 private sector companies/service providers. COLEACP’s Sustainability Self-Assessment System will be used to help identify relevant support activities for individual companies, which will form individual action plans (Memoranda of Understanding).

The first programme activities have been targeting urgent industry-related bottlenecks, as well as defining the content of the individual action plans. They include:

• Setting up a Kenyan National Task Force for Horticulture (NTFH) for enhanced public–private sector coordination on strategic/policy issues. COLEACP has facilitated the revamping and coordination of this Task Force. A senior expert initiated dialogue among the key public sector institutions (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives, MALFC; Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization, KALRO; HCD; KEPHIS; PCPB,) and sector associations (Agrochemicals Association of Kenya, AAK; FPC-Kenya; FPEAK; KFC). Mr Joshua Oluyali of MALFC will be Chairperson of the NTFH, with Mr Clement Tulezi, CEO of KFC, taking the role of Co-Chair from the private sector. Meetings have been held to review and validate the NTFH’s terms of reference, and to decide on the various NTFH committees and their objectives.
• Designing a national action plan for French beans and peas to address the maximum residue limit (MRL) interceptions on the EU market for this produce, an important bottleneck affecting the sector.
• Coaching Kenyan flower companies on management of Thaumatotibia leucotreta (false codling moth, FCM), which has been the leading cause of interceptions of roses, including dissemination of COLEACP’s improved FCM protocol for roses.
• Working together with KEPHIS to support development of the draft mango dossier for submission to the EU; preparation for the EC Food and Veterinary Office audit; mapping of donor-funded activities; a capacity and skills audit to define priority areas for intervention; and a meeting with the European Union Delegation in Kenya to define bottlenecks and priorities
• Meeting with the PCPB and the Minor Crops Committee to set up a list of trials critical for crop–pest combinations
• Meeting with Union Fleurs, KFC and DG SANTE to discuss an increased control regime for flower exports
• Business support bootcamps, followed by individual e-coaching for Kenyan companies
• One Kenyan company has been linked to potential funding by the ABC Fund
• Kenya’s NPPO took part in a COLEACP e-meeting on internal audit systems that was attended by 17 ACP NPPOs.
• Providing training for lecturers in Kenyatta University’s Department of Plant Sciences on the use of Moodle/Camtasia for creating and animating online training courses.

PARTNERSHIPS

NExT Kenya will be working closely with other donor-funded initiatives for the Kenyan horticultural sector to create and optimise synergies.

• With MARKUP we will be collaborating on a baseline study of extension services in Kenya for the French beans and peas value chain, contributing to their broader study including other value chains. A common approach will be defined for capacity-building activities to improve the public and private sector extension services.
• With the Rockefeller Foundation we are working to define and run viable pilots for domestic food safety compliance using the KS 1758 standard, building on COLEACP’s experience in this area.
• COLEACP participates in Mango Technical Working Group meetings, organised by Kenya Crops and Dairy Market Systems (KCDMS), Technoserve and Rockefeller Foundation, to contribute to a common approach to fruit fly management for Kenyan mangoes.
• Meetings have also taken place with CABI, the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), the Netherlands Embassy, Micro Enterprises Support Programme Trust (MESPT), Trade Mark East Africa, and the World Vegetable Center.