Miraa farmers want State to strike deal with Somaliland

For a long time, the Nyambene Miraa Farmers and Traders Association (Nyamita) has been trying to penetrate the Somaliland market to no avail.

According to chairman Kimathi Munjuri, the association whose membership consist of farmers, buyers, transporters and others along the value chain, has struggled to gain a share of the Somaliland market, which has been getting miraa from Ethiopia.

Munjuri said khat from Meru is of great quality and that's why they supplied Somalia quantities worth at least Sh16 million daily before that country adopted unfriendly attitude against the produce.

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“We have been seeking a portion of this market for a while. Its capital Hargeisa is a huge importer of khat from Ethiopia. Before the coronavirus outbreak we used to export about five tonnes daily to some towns in Somaliland such as Lasanood, Qardo and Buhoodle,” said Munjuri.

He said the five tonnes had a value of about Sh1.7 million.

But the miraa sales to Somaliland were a drop in the ocean compared to the 50 tonnes of miraa worth Sh16 million daily farm gate value.

Again, Munjuri said, they were only able to sell small quantities to Somaliland when its miraa supplies were disrupted by clashes in Ethiopia.

“We also angled into Hargeisa mainly when there were disruptions of supply from Ethiopia due to the fights in Ethiopia. Hargeisa is a huge market which takes over 50 tonnes of khat daily from Ethiopia,” he said.

Munjuri said they were eager to get a share of the Somaliland market, which would be of big benefit for miraa farmers because the product had been locked in previously lucrative markets as Somalia and Europe.

“There are trading barriers, especially very high tax on our miraa which have made our stay in the mark unsustainable,” he stated.

At the same time Munjuri said the Kenyan government should be “bold in its dealing with Somalia.”

“Of key interest is how our government will decide to approach the matter of Somalia airspace control where Hargeisa has been seeking to have its own control but Mogadishu claims to be in control of the entire airspace,” said Munjuri.

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya who received the Somaliland leader when he jetted into the country on Sunday flew to Hargeisa in 2016 to discuss the prohibitive duty imposed on miraa.

Munya who was then the Council of Governors chairman, faced criticism for allegedly breaching diplomatic protocol when he visited Somaliland, a region claimed by Somalia.

He dismissed his critics, and claimed his political opponents were behind a smear campaign and spreading propaganda against him.

The then Meru governor met top Somaliland officials during the three-day visit to have the amount of duty reviewed, to facilitate entrance of miraa there.

The CS sought to have the 300 per cent duty imposed on miraa from Kenya reviewed.

After that 2016 visit Munya had said: “The objective of my visit was to persuade the Government of Somaliland to remove the obstacles that have hindered the export of miraa," he said.

He said the khat market in Somaliland was worth $400 million (about Sh4 billion), with 99 per cent of the supplies being from Ethiopia.

"Miraa from Kenya, which is highly preferred there, is charged 300 per cent duty while the one from Ethiopia is charged only 100 per cent duty, making it impossible for our people to compete," Munya had said.

Munya had said he had been consulting Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on his visit to the break-away republic.

He said in his deliberations with top officials, he managed to convince the Somaliland Government to appoint a technical committee to review the duty in exchange of some form of recognition of the breakaway republic by Kenya.

Miraa farmers William Mithika and Maore Ngore were upbeat about the Somaliland president's visit on Monday, saying it was time for the government to help them secure new markets for the produce.

“We have always produced large quantities of miraa but the markets have shrunk. We would like the government to facilitate acquisition of more markets for our product in the region and internationally,” said Mithika.

Ngore said: ”The supply of miraa is high but the demand is low, because of Somalia and other markets which remain shut to our crop.”