The Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC), in collaboration with Trademark Africa (TMA), launched a three-year project on “Strengthening Competitiveness in Export-Oriented Staple Food Value Chains in East Africa” on the 3rd of April in Nairobi. This project is funded under the USAID-funded “Economic Recovery and Resilience Activities (ERRA)” program, implemented by TMA, and will boost exportoriented staple grains trade in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda – with Kenya being the destination market and Tanzania and Uganda as suppliers due to their surplus production.
This project is particularly significant given the volatility and gradual decline that has characterized the region’s trade in food commodities. Numerous challenges, such as minimal aggregation, informal trading, and limited integration of farmers into formal trade, contribute to substantial transactional costs. Furthermore, the absence of adequate storage and quality management infrastructure, a deficiency in post-harvest handling expertise, and a scarcity of information about export markets aggravate these issues.
Attended by over sixty stakeholders of the staple grains value chain actors, the project aims to achieve several objectives. Firstly, it seeks to strengthen farmer-operated grain business hubs (G-Hubs), enabling them to utilize technology to enhance grain production, quality, and trade. Additionally, the project aims to develop enterprise-level capacities and institutional mechanisms to scale up Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) standards and quality compliance, thereby increasing export-oriented grain trade. Furthermore, it aims to establish and enhance an information hub to inform regional food balance sheets and shape national and regional food security and trade policies, fostering an enabling regulatory environment for trade.
During his keynote address, Mark Priestley, Chief of Party, USAID-ERRA, underscored the strategic collaboration between EAGC and USAID. This collaboration is set to enhance grain exports across the region through innovative approaches such as farmer-operated Grain Business Hubs (G-Hubs), which harness technology to advance grain quality and stimulate trade.
Giving his remarks, Gerald Masila, Executive Director of EAGC, expressed his excitement about the project’s launch and emphasized its alignment with EAGC’s mission to advocate for an enabling environment in promoting structured grain trade for the optimum benefit of its stakeholders. He emphasized the project’s expected benefits to the sector, including improved production, greater access to agricultural finance, capacity enhancement, mentorship in SPS and quality compliance, and better trade linkages.
Speaking on behalf of the Managing Director of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), James Nduati, Standards Officer, stated that the partnership with EAGC has played a pivotal role in shaping quality standards of various staple foods standards which have been developed, harmonized, and domesticated at East Africa Member States level. He noted that several staple foods standards Other standards have been established and are currently at the balloting stage. These include FDKS 2086:2023, outlining specifications for varieties blend milled rice, and FDKS 2087:2023, detailing specifications for Milled pishori rice. Additionally, KS 2985:2023 standard, which delineates requirements for silos intended for the storage of bulk cereals and pulses, has already been officially gazetted thanks for the EAGC support.He added that EAGC partnership with KEBS has also resulted to the review of KS EAS 75:203 cattle feed specification which has been approved and awaiting EAC gazettment.
