Kenya introduces a plant import regulatory system

The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) is now offering an automated service that will reduce the risk of importing unsecured planting materials which at times has led to the entry of lethal pests, diseases and weeds in Kenya farms.

The Plant Import and Quarantine Regulatory System (PIQRS) also called ASSIP-K system unveiled on March 5, in Nairobi after two years of work by the government of Kenya through KEPHIS and supported by the Netherlands government.

“Planting material importation poses the risk of introducing new pests and diseases and as the body mandated to ensure safety of the planting materials getting into Kenya from any destination we are offering this system to facilitate secure importation of plants and plant products and in case of a problem to facilitate tracing and tracking”, said Dr Esther Kimani, the acting KEPHIS managing director. 

These sentiments were echoed by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Kosgei in a statement delivered on his behalf by Ann Onyango the Agriculture Secretary. “KEPHIS has a strategic role in protecting Kenya agriculture and the PIQRS system through its tracking and tracing capabilities will aid the elimination of problems such as the large grain borer (Osama) that got into the country through maize imports and caused huge losses of grain at the storage level”. 

Previously, KEPHIS was relying on a manual system to offer phytosanitary certificates and the probability of such as the aforementioned mistakes to occur was high. This system involved a lot of paper work and in some instances because of its cumbersomeness there were room for errors, allowing slipping in of some unacceptable planting materials, since the manual system didn’t have tracing and tracking modalities  quarantine challenges persisted, added Kimani.

“Everyday Kenya exports 700-800 tons of flowers everyday to the Netherlands. This is equivalent to 7-8 boeing cargo planes”, said Bert Rikken, the agricultural counselor at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands, Nairobi. Bert was representing, Joost Reintjes, Netherlands envoy to Kenya who was at the time hosting an investment forum in the Netherlands to drum up support for investments in Kenya.

Based on the volume of horticultural produces going into the Netherlands from Kenya, in 2009 Netherlands and Kenya initiated measures of engineering a system to ensure traceability of horticultural produces from Kenya into Netherlands for consumer and environmental safety. The system was launched on April 19, 2011, Bert added.

Lamentably, the same efficacious measure enforcing imports phytosanitary standards for quite some time was lacking for the imported bulk of plant products into Kenya. The imports mainly consist propagation materials (plants for planting) and a variety of seeds for sowing, as well as grains for milling.

Streamlining of this one way certification procedure has become very critical and pertinent to Kenya. This is the reason why the government of Kenya partnered with its Netherlands counterpart to realize a system that holistically establishes the safety of planting materials imported into Kenya and will be applied to any destination that has a similar system. Kenya government contributed 20% of the projects funding, while the rest came from the Netherlands.

Bert asserted, for the time the system has been operational, planting materials bumps have been leveled. He also urged all stakeholders who include all seeds and propagation materials traders to keep on improving the system as it has enhanced the image of Kenya as a trustworthy trading partner.