Kenya Among COMESA States Benefitting from Agricultural Trade Pilot Project

Kenya is among six Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) member states benefitting from a pilot project aimed at enhancing regional agricultural commodity trade.

The project is being implemented by COMESA in partnership with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with support of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO-UK).

It seeks to establish Mutual Recognition Agreements(MRAs) among member states for six key commodities including maize, ground nuts,soya beans,rice,beans and sorghum.The project is being piloted in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda ,Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Officials from the COMESA secretariat today paid a courtesy call to the Principal Secretary for Trade Regina Ombam in her office at Teleposta towers, Nairobi to evaluate the progress of implementation of the MRA between Kenya and Uganda to facilitate trade for the six key commodities.

The COMESA officials included Providence Mavubi, Director Industry and Agriculture,Dingiswayo Shawa, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)Expert and Mukayi Musarurwa, SPS and Technical Barriers to Trade(TBT) Coordinator.

Kenya and Uganda concluded the negotiations for the MRA in a bilateral meeting held last December in Entebbe paving the way for the clearance of the agreement by the respective legal authorities.

Both parties prevailed upon Uganda to fast track the clearance of the MRA and submit  to  Kenya for internal validation and eventual signing by the two countries.

The project has procured grading equipment through Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) to bolster grading capacities of Kenya Graders.

The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) has also been identified as a potential Grading Proficiency Scheme Provider under the project.

Present during the visit was COMESA Focal Point Kenya Tobias Odongo among other senior officials from the State Department.