Posted on May, 22, 2024 at 08:57 am
Agriculture is the backbone of nearly all East Africa region’s economies and the main economic activity for more than 70 per cent of the population. It is estimated to contribute on average 27 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the EAC and accounts for the highest share of employment not only in the region, but the African.
However, the region makes huge post-harvest losses in food products annually in the range of 30 per cent in cereals, 50 per cent in roots and tubers, and up to 70 per cent in fruits and vegetables, according to data by the East African Community.
Post-harvest losses may occur from a number of causes, such as improper handling or bio-deterioration by microorganisms, insects, rodents or birds. It can also be as a result of poor transport and storage, among other cases.
This has continued deny the region full benefits of the sector while contributing to the reduction of food supply, a scenario that has kept food prices elevated from time to time.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), post-harvest losses have significant nutritional, health and financial impacts for both consumers and farmers, disproportionately affecting women, who are largely responsible for managing post-harvest drying, cleaning, and storage.
To help countries curb these losses, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has unveiled the programme targeting five countries in the region, with a focus in the horticulture sub-sector.
The COMESA – East African Community Horticulture Accelerator (CEHA) project targets avocado, onion and Irish potato farming in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia, with a keen focus on ensuring continued growth of the sector through increased exports, income employment and food security.
Under the programme, farmers in the five countries are expected to access quality seeds, training on how to improve production and distribution, countries to establish standards and traceability, and strengthen post-harvest management while improving gains in the value chain. The five-year programme is expected to help the countries cut post-harvest losses in horticulture to 40 per cent or lower, from highs of 60 per cent, for instance in Kenya.
According to COMESA Assistant Secretary General (Programmes) Mohamed Kadah, CEHA has a bottom-up structure where strategic priorities are identified by national-level stakeholders, mainly the horticulture private sector, to drive the priorities at a regional level.
“The vision of CEHA is that by 2031, climate-smart horticulture value chains will become a significant driver of income growth, inclusive job creation, and improved nutrition throughout Eastern and Southern Africa,” Kadah noted.
The specific value chains that CEHA is focusing on have agronomic, logistical, regulatory challenges and opportunities that are common to many other fruit and vegetable crops, he noted. Therefore, avocado, onion and irish potatoes were selected in 2022 through surveys and were based on production capacity, impact potential, market growth and value chain competitiveness of the crops.
“It facilitates the modernisation of regional horticulture value chains across East Africa, leveraging the comparative advantage, infrastructure, and technology in each country,” Kadah said.
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COMESA Secretariat through Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA) is looking forward to the transformation of the horticultural industry in the region currently at USD4 billion, to double or triple in the next 10 years.
CEHA will provide many opportunities for the COMESA and EAC region especially the landowners with access to less than 1 hectare of land.
High value fruits and vegetables are consistently more profitable than cereals and other common staple crops, and the demands for these products are increasing for both domestic and export markets.
The programme comes as the bloc targets to achieve a trade value of USD25 million for fruits and vegetables within the Comesa-EAC region by 2031.
Estimates indicate avocados; onions and Irish potatoes can generate a combined USD230 million annually for approximately 450,000 smallholder farmers of a minimum farm size of 0.4 hectare with 60 avocado trees, or 1 hectare for onion farmers.
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The COMESA initiative aims to propel global exports from USD416 million to over USD950 million over the next seven years. “We need to address elements of post-harvest losses through the use of technologies that are in place. From storage, transport and other stages, we must ensure that we curb losses and gain more from these crops,” said Apollo Owuor, CEHA regional coordinator, ACTESA.
The region also needs to bring onions and potatoes on board traceability, which is a key component in the market, he added.
“We have a huge opportunity to tap a bigger market locally, regionally and globally but we need to improve production for example potatoes by 20 per cent annually, and onions,” Owuor said during the launch of the CEHA programme in Nairobi.
According to Kenya’s Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), the country produces a paltry 26 per cent of the onions consumed in the market, with 74 per cent of imported mainly from Tanzania.
The little that is locally produced is also of low quality according to the authority, amid post-harvest losses, poor management and storage, low quality seeds and onion diseases. The country on the other hand exports 80 per cent of avocado produces to the global market, thanks to improved quality and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures.
The government is also keen to enhance traceability in Irish potatoes with plans to expand production to 26 counties from the current 13, a move that is expected to help cut imports where 50 per cent of potatoes in the processing sector are imported. “We are addressing conformity of these commodities, improving quality if seeds and expanding export markets and linkages,” Deputy Director Technical Advisory Services at AFA, Anthony Rutto, said.
The government targets to grow agricultural exports as part of plans to increase foreign exchange earnings and cut the country’s import bill, according to Trade PS Alfred K’Ombudo. They account for 35 per cent of the country’s total exports led by tea, coffee, avocados, and cut flowers among others.
Source: The Exchange