EAGC participated in the Annual Millers Conference held on 14th March , at Safari Park Hotel, themed “ Forging formidable public-private partnerships to improve food and nutrition security through flour fortification companies in Kenya”. EAGC Executive Director, Gerald Masila, made a presentation on policy advocacy and industry self-regulation to provide an enabling environment for grain milling in Kenya.

Mr. Masila noted that SME millers face the challenge of complying with regulation fees , levies and taxes noting that the industry has about14 different taxes and fees that lead to an annual accumulative cost of between Ksh 189,000 to Ksh 800,000. He further noted that these costs could be higher given that compliance costs have significantly increased in the past 5 years. Mr. Masila pointed out that while the industry perceives compliance with utmost importance , high costs of quality control such as lab testing and producing quality grain poses a great threat to compliance.

In his presentation, Mr. Masila highlighted that for the milling industry to establish efficiency, it needs to set and enforce rules and standards that guide the conduct of firms in the industry. He categorically noted that Industry Self-Regulation (ISR) will bring all the stakeholders together including farmers to own the problem and reduce disciplinary measures on millers as well as help to identify and resolve capacity and resource gaps to improve compliance with standards. Where there is uneven enforcement of the law, where the regulatory burden falls entirely on millers, he noted that ISR will clarify and define the roles of each of these regulators.

In conclusion, Mr. Masila reiterated the Council’s effort in attaining industry self-regulation stating that the Council is working towards the harmonization of standards, building the capacity of industry stakeholders, offering food testing services and pursuing the accreditation of EAGC services.