KENYA: Victory declared as "food miles" campaign is mired in controversy

Source: Business Daily (Nairobi) "Kenya's Horticulture Sector Upbeat On 2008 Forecast" by Allan Odhiambo and
It may have had its share of breath taking scares across the year, but players in the robust horticulture industry are looking up to success in the coming year.
First to rattle the sub-sector was the food miles concept that threatened to lock local producers from key markets especially in Europe on grounds that shipments from far flung areas were contributing to global warming through carbon emissions.
Proponents of this concept argued that to discourage such threats of environmental degradation, all produce brought in through long haulage should be accorded cautionary labels such that buyers 'skipped them' for locally produced ones.
Then came a strengthening shilling against major international currencies such as the dollar that eroded producers' earnings from exports prompting a debate over possible switch to other currencies to avoid further damage.
That aside, there were the jitters of expiring preferential trade agreements that would have disrupted export trade with the EU come December 31.
"It has been a tough year for exporters" Hasit Shah, the vice chair at the Kenya Flower Council (KFC) says.
Luckily the industry 'lived through' these scares and analysts say it could be headed for firmer performance compared to last year, going by the strong run over the first half of this year.
The carbon miles debate was fizzled out by the fact that its proponents would not scientifically justify their claims against the long haul products while the fears of trade disruptions were put to rest after Kenya and other East African Community (EAC) member States initialised new trade deals with the EU waiting the signing of comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) by 2009-guaranteeing continued duty/quota free access of their goods into Europe.
The industry's spirits are further buoyed by statistics from the Leading Economic Indicators for September released by the Planning and National Development Ministry that showed the industry's earnings hit the Sh31 billion mark as at June, representing a 57 per cent growth over a similar period last year backed by a strong demand for cut flowers in key international markets.
Kenyan horticulturists have particularly cashed in on sharp changes in weather patterns over Europe where the bulk of exports are taken. Traditionally, the onset of summer in Europe towards June spelt lower sales for Kenyan horticultural exporters as their counterparts in the EU upped own business in the warmest months for the northern hemisphere.
This year, however, unstable weather patterns attributed to global climate change has set back horticultural production programmes in regions such as the UK, and that has meant a stronger than usual demand for imports from countries like Kenya.
Analysts now predict that backed by this massive growth, the industry is likely to surpass the Sh43 billion full-year earnings for last year.
"We look up to a very successful 2008 because massive transformations are being carried out," Jane Ngige, the chief executive officer at KFC told Business Daily.
The CEO says growth in the industry is likely to come from stronger audit of operations especially among the upcoming smallholder producers which would reduce the rate of rejection of goods turned up from trading in key markets.
Faced by stringent market safety requirements players in the industry have moved to adopt practices such as Kenya Good Agricultural Practices (Kenya-Gap) protocol to counter the threats with an aspect of self regulation now ensuring the country's producers and exporters maintained an emphatic run in key markets abroad.
Based on the successes of this concept of self regulation, a recent survey by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), titled : "Bridging the Gap Between Food Safety Policies" labels the Kenya horticulture industry as a global illustration of how standards can be used to tackle competition in key markets.
The UN agency said that through investments in high-care processing facilities, private laboratories, full supply chain traceability, improved sanitation, storage systems and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) measures, the leading firms in Kenya's fresh produce industry have focused their attention and resources on premium-quality market segment and reaped significant benefit.
"In spite of more stringent standards applied by certain importing countries, some industries and supply chains in low-income countries have maintained or enhanced their competitiveness and market share," the document reads in part.
This concept of self regulation in Kenya has been bolstered by the recent accreditation of the Kenya Plant Health Inspection Services (KEPHIS) to carry out inspections of exports on behalf of the EU.
Previously, exports were checked for standards locally and later re-examined in Europe.
A step to harmonise the inspection procedure has however improved fortunes for Kenyan exporters in that their produce is only inspected once by Kephis and a binding certificate, application even in Europe, issued to them.

Source: The East African (Nairobi)"UK Carbon Footprint Campaign Fizzles Out"  by Catherine Riungu

The food miles debate that threw Kenya's flower industry into a spin at the beginning of 2007 has finally fizzled out as UK supermarkets have dropped their initial hardline stance.
According to Ron Fasol, managing director of Oserian Development Company, a leading flower exporter, although this may not have been publicly acknowledged, the food miles debate has flopped and is unlikely to resurface - unless Africa reaches the high pollution levels of the developed world.
The plane symbols put on imported produce by leading UK supermarkets Tesco and Marks & Spencer have been replaced by Kenya's "Grown Under the Sun" label which, according to Kenya Flower Council chief executive Jane Ngige, has led to increased interest in Kenya produce and a subsequent surge in earnings.
Mr Fasol said the supermarkets rushed to impose sanctions on air-freighted goods without proper scientific findings, a move that prompted urgent research into how much carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere by airlifting of goods from Africa. Growers, trade associations and scientists conducted studies whose findings discounted the retailers' theory that banning imports would reduce global warming.
The Soil Association of the UK had said it would withdraw its organic certificates from air-freighted organically grown produce, effectively denying products from Africa a vital market.
In September, when the association was to have effected the ban, the British Department for International Development (DfID) organised a debate where it charged that, "while welcoming the Soil Association's concern about the impact of food production on climate change, the air-freighting of fruit and vegetables counts for only a small proportion - less than 1 per cent of UK greenhouse gas emissions. There can be no denying that food transport has an environmental and social cost, but most of this - about 85 per cent - comes from UK roads."
UK Trade and Development Minister Gareth Thomas said: "The distance food has travelled is not a good way to judge whether the food we eat is sustainable. Driving 6.5 miles to buy your shopping emits more carbon than flying a pack of Kenyan green beans to the UK."
Mr Thomas added that tackling climate change was a priority in the fight against world poverty.
"The only fair option, which considers the livelihoods of those in developing countries as well as the need to protect the environment, is to ensure that the prices of the goods we consume cover the costs of their environmental impact," he said.
He added that the government was encouraging more efficient distribution within the food and drink sector, and has proposed that food industry trade bodies look into achieving a 20 per cent reduction in the social costs of transporting food in the UK by 2012.
He added, "We must ensure the world's poorest producers are not penalised for the sins of the world's richest consumers."
In Kenya, for instance, carbon emissions are 200 kg a head, while in the UK they are almost 50 times that. African economies are currently growing by around 5 per cent or more - in part due to agricultural exports.
Agriculture remains the most likely source of economic growth and poverty reduction in most African countries. If Africa is to grow by 7 per cent, and halve poverty, get its children into school and achieve the Millennium Development Goals, it must be free to trade with the rest of the world, DfID said.
The DfID stand rubberstamped the Grown Under the Sun crusade, which set out to inform British consumers about the development benefits associated with buying fresh produce from Kenya even as the food miles and carbon footprints debate continued.
Kenya Flower Council chairman Erastus Mureithi said the campaign was aimed at demonstrating to consumers that unlike flowers grown in Europe under artificial light, Kenya's are produced under natural conditions.
The Grown Under the Sun campaign was launched by Kenya's High Commissioner to the UK, Joseph Muchemi, at the Royal Show - Britain's largest agricultural trade show - in July, when the debate was at fever pitch, at a seminar on the subject of carbon emissions and food miles. It was attended by representatives from Kenya, British retailers, the National Farmers Union and Farmer's Weekly magazine, published in London.
Mr Mureithi said UK scientists have proved to carbon miles crusaders that the subject had not been scientifically focused, leading to the current change of mind.
He, however, cautioned the flower industry against celebrating because, this being the high season, human-rights groups and environmental activists focus their attacks on the high sales on Valentine's Day which is observed on February 14 worldwide with red roses. The day is the single most important event in the flower business.