EAGC is undergoing an International Standards Organisation (ISO) accreditation process to position itself to provide warehouse inspection and certification to support WRSC and complement the role of Agricultural Food Authority. This has been necessitated by the need for EAGC to uphold increasingly higher standards of its technical service delivery in: Inspection and certification of warehouses using EAGC’s Warehouse Inspection and Certification criteria; Training and certification of warehouse operators and grain graders using EAGC’s Curriculum; Technical advisory services for establishment of warehouses and other grain handling and processing facilities; and Collateral management services for grain trade financing.
The accreditation will also allow the Grain Trade Business Hubs (G-Hubs) to provide 3rd party certification for SPS standards for compliance to G -Hubs. One of the biggest challenges in grain trade is poor quality of grain which poses a health risk to consumers, exemplified by the effects of aflatoxin contamination for both food and feed. The impact has necessitated the proposed development of a third-party certification system for SPS compliance through EAGC G-Hubs.
A certification scheme is a system that is established by industry consensus and is approved by a recognized body. The scheme provides rules and guidelines to help achieve the optimum degree of order in structured grain trade. Some of the general objectives of the certification scheme are: better utilization of resources; health, safety and environment; communication; and removal of trade barriers.
Once the G-Hubs Scheme is in place, G-Hubs will be certified to be able to handle grain that meets East Africa Standards. However, these G Hubs will need to be scrutinized and audited. The certification scheme will ensure grains being aggregated and traded through EAGC G-Hubs are of the right quality and safe for human consumption.
In this regard, EAGC in collaboration with Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA) hosted an in-person working session for the design and development of a third-party certification scheme for Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) compliance through EAGC G-Hubs. The session which was held on 15th February 2022 at Maanzoni Lodge in Machakos, hosted the EAGC Secretariat: the EAGC senior management team, officers responsible for trade facilitation, capacity building and field officers; TMEA: officers responsible for SPS compliance initiatives; Representatives of G-Hubs; and EAGC Board and the Kenya CPC Members.
Through consultative and interactive sessions, the participants explored how third-party certification can be applied to the EAGC-Ghub model and approved the proposal to develop a third-party certification scheme , noting that the Certification scheme should be demand driven while taking into account structural processes, resource requirements and management systems.
Moving forward, EAGC with the support of TMEA will ensure successful development and roll out of the third-party certification scheme and implement the road map to develop a the scheme before end of June 2022.
Once the accreditation process is completed, EAGC will be ISO certified for two standards: Conformity assessment — Requirements for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection (ISO 17020:2012); and Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems, specifically part 3: Competence requirements for auditing and certification of quality management systems (ISO 17021:2017 Part 3).
The Council has embarked on training EAGC secretariat on the accreditation process to equip qualified staff with inspection and certification skills to competently carry out the tasks.
