Mkulima today I have an Update on maize imports ban from Uganda and Tanzania from the
ministry of agriculture. There have been trading tensions between the three East African community states after Kenya blocked the importation of maize from Uganda and Tanzania with Kenya saying maize from the two nations have high levels of aflatoxin. To read more about the issues click
here This has led to Kenya sending high-level delegation to Uganda in order to ease the trade tensions.
Remember Uganda is one of the leading trade partners with Kenya with over 70% of
Kenyan exports headed to the East African State.
Read more
The Food crops sub-sector was unregulated since independence. This has led to many malpractices including unmonitored imports and cross-border trade leading to poor quality and unsafe crop produce and
products.
The recent stoppage of unsafe maize was necessitated by continuous surveillance on the safety of food imports to Kenya where test results for maize imported from Uganda and Tanzania revealed high levels of mycotoxins consistently beyond safety limits.
Mycotoxins particularly aflatoxins and fumonisins are carcinogenic. In order to address the urgent food safety concerns, we have put a stoppage of unsafe maize from all destinations.
Update on maize imports ban from Uganda and Tanzania
The following measures have been put in place to facilitate the safe trade of maize and other related
The new
ministry of agriculture update on maize imports ban from Uganda and Tanzania regulations to help save Kenyans from cancer include
1. Registration of all dealers of food crops including the transporters,
importers, and processors as per the requirements of section 16 of the crops Act 2013. All stakeholders are advised to log on to
www.afa.imis.go.ke for requirements for registration. The applicants will be vetted and approval granted through the issuance of a registration certificate.
2. Successful applicants shall be notified of the need to apply for pre-shipment documents stating the source of produce, purpose, and destination including the storage facility where the produce shall be offloaded.
3. All consignments shall be accompanied by documents including the Certificate of Conformity (COC) of the produce issued by a competent Authority from the exporting country processed through the KENTRADE single window system to be verified and approved by the crops inspectors.
Additionally, random sampling shall be done at the border points with rapid testing to confirm that the grain is as per the conformity certificate issued by the exporting country.
4. Engaging EACC and
DCI to crack down on corrupt practices by Government officers at the Border who are accepting bribes in exchange for maize entry approval stamps without inspection and verification.
AFA is working in collaboration with the regulators/competent authorities from the exporting countries to provide guidelines on how to meet the relevant EAC standards.
In a statement read by Agriculture Chief Administrative Secretary Lawrence Angolo, Kenya said the move is aimed at addressing the safety of consumers and that the country will not compromise on that.
Mr Angolo said the details on the warehouse would help in ensuring that the maize supplied to Kenya adhered to all standard procedures on food handling and that it was not dried on roads (tarmac).
“While we strive to give Kenya safe food by addressing the challenge in the production system, we equally expect our trading partners to trade safe maize as per the East African Community (EAC) standards,” said Mr Angolo.
The ministry urged the regional countries to fast track ratification of EAC- SGS standards on aflatoxin and submit the instruments of certification to the EAC.
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