Sanitary and phytosanitary standards: implications for trade and development in Kenya

For many years Kenya has invested in compliance infrastructure for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards with the primary objective of assisting agricultural producers and traders meet SPS conditions of trading partners and to enhance the country’s ability to compete in global markets without excluding smallholder producers. However, these efforts have not proportionately reduced incidences of rejections and complaints on Kenya’s agrofood exports, nor responded effectively to emerging SPS risks. Such incidences have highlighted likely weaknesses in the country’s SPS compliance system. The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of Kenya’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) system to support safe trade in agricultural and food products. A range of social science methods and tools were used to assess the ability of the private sector to produce agricultural and food products that comply with SPS requirements of key trading partners the one hand, and domestic SPS compliance support institutions on the other. Overall, significant investments have been made in Kenya’s SPS compliance system but its linkages with the private sector regional and international frameworks are inadequate. National SPS policy frameworks exist, but have received limited priority in national development and trade agenda. In addition, although private sector is implementing SPS requirements, smallholders are increasingly being excluded from global value chains, and regulatory controls are more reactive rather than risk-based. As a consequence non-compliance with SPS requirements continues to be a major hindrance for the country’s key agro-food exports and regional integration efforts. Efforts should be directed towards implementation of regional SPS frameworks and compliance along agro-food value chains without excluding participation of smallholder producers.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Greenwich

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Edewa, Andrew

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Graffham, Andrew
• Kleih, Ulrich
• Orchard, John

• S Agriculture (General)

Language dc:language

en