Farmers push for lifting of raw macadamia export ban

MACNUT Association Chairperson Jane Maigua with Vice Chairman Joel Kobia at a press briefing in Nairobi. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

Macadamia farmers have called for a review of the law to reduce the powers of the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary on exporting raw nuts and other oil crops.

The farmers also called for stringent laws inhibiting raw macadamia export trade and the creation of the price control board to regulate the Macadamia and nuts export market.

Speaking during the meeting to collect and collate views on the laws governing the crop, the farmers said the board would eliminate cartels blamed for poor farm gate prices.

It was clear from the over 1200 farmers that the law currently gives the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary absolute powers to the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary on the export market of raw macadamia and oil crops.

Taita Taveta Macadamia Cooperative Society chairman Peter Mwabili said the Agricultural and Food Authority (AFA) and Crops Act, 2013, should be reviewed to address the concerns of farmers.

He said some provisions of the current Act have loopholes and gray areas, which the CS has been using to abuse it at the expense of Kenya farmers.

The AFA Act (Cap 43 of 2013, prohibits the export of raw Macadamia and Cashews except with the written authority of the CS responsible for Agriculture.

The Act says export consignments are subjected to physical verification/inspection by the nuts and oil crops inspection before clearance.

Export must also be cleared by the Kenya Revenue Authority, Plant Health Inspectorate Service, and the Kenya Bureau of Standards, as stated in the Act.

Mwabili told the AFA officials that the Act gives the CS absolute power to decide the quantity of the crop exported to the international market.

“We are calling for the review of the Acts because they do not specify the quantity of the crop the CS can approve for export. And that is why it should be amended for the benefit of the farmers and Kenyans,” he told the meeting.

According to the farmers, the Acts should ensure that the CS has a limit on how much he can approve for nuts and oil crops export purposes.

The official revealed that brokers have been buying a kilo of unprocessed Macadamia at Sh30 and selling the same for Sh3,600, making huge profits at the expense of the poor local farmers.

He said local farmers have been experiencing massive exploitation from brokers who have persistently bought the farm produce cheaply and sold it exorbitantly to enrich themselves.

A  farmer, Samson Malasi, noted that the lack of a market and poor prices remain a challenge to farmers forced to contend with rampant exploitation.

“The bulk of macadamia nut export sold to companies originates from the county, but there is nothing to show for it as a larger population in the region lives below the poverty line.

And that is why the Acts should be reviewed to save us farmers from brokers,” he stated.

A senior Agricultural Officer in the county, Ali Ahmed, disclosed to the stakeholders meeting that apart from distributing over 2000 free Macadamia seedlings among other fruit tree seedlings like Avocado and oranges and free fertilizer to farmers in Taita hills.

The official said the two projects will enhance agricultural production and food security and create wealth for poverty and unemployment alleviation.

Mr Ahmed told the meeting that the fruit tree seedlings will also help improve the dilapidated forest cover, which now stands at less than four percent, and improve food security besides mitigating the effects of climate change.

At the same time, he revealed that the county administration is reviving the collapsed horticultural production center (HPC) in Wundanyi town where the Macadamia project will be implemented to create jobs.