Farmers demand EU deal
The Standard (Nairobi) | 11 December 2006
Farmers demand EU deal
By Pocyline Karani
Flower exporters have asked the Government to ensure that it signs an agreement with the European Union (EU) before the General Elections next year.
Members of the Kenya Flower Council (KFC) say that should the Government fail to strike a deal through the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), exporters risk being locked out of the lucrative European Market.
Speaking after this years KFC annual general meeting, the council’s chairman, Mr Erastus Muriithi, urged the Government to refrain from asking for an extension of the negotiations to allow for campaigns.
"An extension of the negotiation would mean that Kenya does not beat the 2008 deadline of preferential market access to the EU that the country enjoys through the African Caribbean and Pacific (APC) agreement," he said.
Muriithi said that cut flowers- which enjoy preferential tariffs- would lose market opportunities in the EU, leading to a collapse of the horticulture sector.
