Communique on the EAGC and AFA Meeting on Modalities for Improving Compliance with Food Safety Standards in Cross-Border Trade, held at the EAGC Grain Business Institute on 18th March 2021

The Eastern Africa Grain Council on 17th March, 2021 hosted the Acting Director General of the Agricultural Food Authority (AFA), Mr. Kello Harsama, as a follow up meeting following the recent stoppage of maize imports into Kenya from Uganda and Tanzania, to engage in finding solutions and modalities for improving compliance with food safety standards in cross-border trade. The meeting, which was hosted at the EAGC Grain Business Institute (GBI), was occasioned by a series of engagements between EAGC and various Government Trade Facilitation Agencies including AFA, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KeBS), and the Ministry of Agriculture Livestock & Fisheries, to co-create solutions that will assure the quality and safety of food commodities being imported into Kenya, following a blockade on maize imports into Kenya from Uganda and Tanzania by AFA on 5th March, 2021 on the grounds of food safety concerns. The meeting was also informed by the direction provided by EAGC’s Members and Stakeholders during a consultative meeting on the maize trade blockade on 9th March 2021, towards resolving the import ban and finding lasting solutions for aflatoxin contamination in staple foods.

Source: EAGC Communique