Produce growers form new network
The East African, Nairobi
Produce Growers Form New Network
Catherine Riungu, Special Correspondent, Nairobi
27 March 2007
A regional network for horticultural associations will be launched in Nairobi this week.
The network is part of the efforts being made in the region to ensure that the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) meant to replace the current trading regime with the European Union are signed by December.
The initiative brings together country representatives from Southern, Central and East African states, which are seeking collaboration in promoting competitiveness in the export markets through lobbying and sharing information and expertise.
It is dubbed the Horticultural Council for Southern, Eastern and Central Africa (HC-SECA).
Members of the network will include Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia as well as Malawi, Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana, Rwanda and Burundi.
Apart from Kenya, the other countries in the region are classified as Least Developed Countries and, therefore, can continue trading with the EU under the Everything But Arms initiative if no agreement is reached by December.
Such countries have not, therefore, seen the urgency of signing a new trade partnership with the EU. This leaves Kenya in an awkward position because under the current world trade arrangement, trade concessions are discussed between regions, which offer bigger markets and economics of scale.
According to European Commission head of delegation in Kenya, Erich Van Der Linden, the EU is committed to supporting countries in the East and Southern Africa (ESA) region to negotiate for a trading relationship that moves away from tariff preferences to one that builds lasting regional and international markets.
Last month, the EU and ESA countries trade ministers agreed on a raft of measures to conclude the trade talks before the end of the year during a meeting in Brussels.
The horticultural council concept was conceived in June 2005 in Harare, Zimbabwe, during an EPAs workshop.
National horticultural associations and other key stakeholders agreed to create a platform to harmonise needs of individual countries that are at different levels of development and articulate them within a multinational setup.
"It is felt that there is a comparative advantage in having a unified voice on some of the challenges in developing the horticultural sector regionally, especially in policy advocacy at both international and national levels," the network’s policy paper says.
Among the benefits expected to accrue from the initiative is the sharing of technical information and expertise, which some of the associations are already doing informally. "The multiplier benefit of this co-operation will be faster integration and technological advancement of the horticultural sector in the region," says the paper.
Other identified areas of collaboration are trade opportunities, marketing strategies, good agricultural practices, policy reforms and human resources.
Though competing against one another in the international markets, the subscribing countries recognise that competition from producers outside the sub-region is critical, requiring a common approach.
In this part of Africa, only South Africa and Kenya have a long experience of private-sector driven horticulture. In countries like Malawi and Botswana, associations are in budding stages while in others like Mozambique and Swaziland, national associations are nonexistent.
Within the geographical spectrum of these countries, horticulture exports have more than doubled over the past 25 years, with the industry accounting for 18 per cent of agricultural sales.
Kenya’s experience has also shown that the sector can be instrumental in poverty reduction among the rural communities where it has provided steady incomes to small-scale producers.
