After an eight-year self-imposed ban, resulting from a fruit fly outbreak, Kenya will officially resume its mango exports to the European market in September. The EU has approved the resumption of exports of Kenya’s produce after the tests indicated low levels of insect incidence. All this time, Kenya has instead been exporting mangoes to the Middle East. However, returns have been lower compared to what its growers would earn from EU states. The move to resume exports to EU has been enabled by the creation of pest free areas that will guarantee mangoes being exported are free of flies.
Businessdailyafrica.com quoted Geoffrey Kiganiri, an official with USAID Kenya Crops and Market System, as saying: “We have done a dry run and samples were submitted to EU and this was approved, putting us on the roadmap to begin mass export in September.” Wilfred Yako, the Directorate of Horticulture assistant director of regulations and compliance said Kenya is now set to return to the EU market following the initiatives that have been put in place.