Kenya could prohibit the imports of food products from other countries which have been cultivated using pesticides withdrawn for use in Kenya.
According to the Pesticide Control Products Board Chief Executive Officer Frederick Muchiri, these are some of the proposed amendments in the Pest Control Products Act which will enhance the country’s food safety by restrict the entry of food crops containing harmful pesticides.
“There are products we have withdrawn from use in the country but they are being used within our neigbouring countries and we also import quite some food from them,” said Muchiri.
He added, “We might not be using them to produce but we might be consuming them in food we import from our neigboourhood.
So that bill has taken care of that in that no produce will be allowed to come into the country if it contains products that have not been allowed for use in the country and that will go along way in safeguarding the health of our citizens.”
Continuous use of withdrawn carcinogenic pesticide products and wrong application of pesticides have been cited a leading cause to food products from Kenya being flagged on the international market for containing high residue levels.
Through the bill, PCPB is also targeting to have control on the sale of the products by ensuring only licensed sellers engage in the business.
“The new bill addresses functional operational gaps. Once enacted it will seal some of the issues including people to dispense pesticides. It has been captured that the minimum qualification for people to run agrovets and factories has been spelled and that will be implemented to the letter,” added Muchiri.
Agriculture stakeholders are further calling for increased involvement of private sector in offering extension services to farmers across all counties.
The sector being a devolved function, counties are currently struggling with budget constraints to undertaken extension services as well as lack of properly trained staff to educate farmers on proper application of pesticides, a fact which further compromises food safety.
“We see an opportunity where we can have private sector like ourselves training these farmers, working with government to put in place a mechanisms that will support sustainability of extension where all the private sector involvement at the smallholder farmers levels are coordinated in the way they deliver the stewardship messages,” said Erick Kimungui, Agro-chemicals Association of Kenya (AAK) Chief Executive Officer.
This comes amid calls to the government to withdraw products containing glyphosate. However according to PCPB, the ingredient has no effect if used as per the label instruction.
