FEB-MARCH 2013 ISSUE Final.ai - Hortinews.co.ke

The French bean, Kenya’s leading vegetable export, is facing enormous challenges in its main EU market.
compromising the quality and
leading to losses of millions of
shillings.
“If your products are stuck for
long at the airport before being
cleared, this lowers the quality
hence loss of income,” says
Mahajan.
Due to the delays at the
airport while the products are
tested for MRLs, a country such
as Guatemala — which was not
a competitor to Kenya in terms
of beans exports — is now a
threat. The company exports
their products to the UK, EU and
Dubai.
“Our customers have started
buying from other countries and
if the situation is not corrected
speedily, the ripple effect is that
Kenya will disappear from the
market. This will be catastrophic
especially for our small-scale
farmers whose livelihoods
depend on the beans,” says
Mahajan.
He says the worst hit farmers
are the small-scale farmers who
produce 40-50 per cent of the
beans and do not know the right
products to use on their crops.
He gave an example of farmers
from Kirinyaga and Timau, most
of whom had lost their livelihoods
following the ban.
Everest Enterprises Ltd CEO
John Karuga spoke to Hortinews
on French bean farming and
exports from his firm;
Since the review on MRLs,
which saw the banning of
Dimethoate products used
in domestic and export fruits
and vegetables by the EU, how
has the export of French beans
faired
The ban of the Dimethoate
products caught a lot of farmers
(especially smallholder farmers)
unaware, but in our view it was a
move towards the right direction
because this product is among
the Organo phosphorous, which
have adverse effects on the
environment. A lot of diseases
such as cancer are on the increase
and this is associated with the
misuse of such chemicals.
A big number of Kenyan
farmers are now using other
alternative insecticides to control
pests. The export of French
beans is beginning to take the
right direction because only the
serious exporting companies
are going to remain due to
compliance to food safety and
Global Gap.
Where do you export
your beans
Europe.
In view of the banning
of Dimethoate products,
how have you been
managing, given that its
pesticides were known
to be highly effective in
controlling pests in fruits
and vegetables besides
being pocket friendly
We still have other effective
insecticide products and have
been advising our farmers never
to use Dimethoate. We have
aggressively trained farmers on
the use of the right chemicals.
In addition, we are providing
chemicals to some farmers as
a pilot project and plans are
underway to adopt this measure
for all our farmers.
Did the ban have an
impact on your French
bean production and
export
No, it did not do so to our
business since we had prepared
for this early enough. We did not
have any issues with detection of
wrong chemicals last year. This
has seen our orders escalating
every week. However, other
exporters, especially small ones,
have been negatively affected as
they could not get produce from
the middle men, leading to less
volumes getting to the market.
In your view, what is the
future of French bean
growing and exports in
Kenya
The future is still bright
although farmers must comply
with food safety standards.
However, the volumes might be
lower than previous years due
to increased cost of growing as a
result of compliance .
HORTICULTURAL NEWS I FEB / MAR 2013 37