Kenya Aims To Boost Meat Exports
Kenya plans to boost its meat exports by investing in state-of-the-art slaughterhouses that meet international quality standards. This was announced by none other than President Uhuru at a recent meeting with government officials and business owners recently.
“We will begin with the export of live animals but in two years, we should have our own export slaughterhouse. My vision is to revive this important sector,” said President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Meat exports to Europe and the Middle East markets has been growing in recent years and the building of halal-certified slaughterhouses will certainly boost Kenya’s foreign exchange earnings though meat exports.
“My main interest is that the farmer and herder of livestock get good prices for their animals,” said the President.
President Kenyatta said livestock farming used to be a lucrative agribusiness in the 1970s but was brought down through mismanagement.
“We used to do well in this livestock industry in the early 1970s. Unfortunately, due to mismanagement, it collapsed,” he said.
Global Foods and Blue Mountain are two UAE-based companies that have been appointed to market Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) products in the Middle East with Dubai as the distribution point.
KMC is also planning to set up distribution centres and cold storage warehouses in the Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, and Egypt.
“We want to directly take charge of the export market by doing away with middle men in our supply chain system. This will also help us convert agent commission fees into income,” said Patrick Mutemi, the deputy managing commissioner and head of finance and marketing at KMC.
The Middle East is a prime market for small stock products — lamb, mutton, and goat meat — while corned beef is more popular in the African market and Saudi Arabia.
Recently, a team from the United Arab Emirates visited Kenya to assess the capacity of Kenya Meat Commission to export meat to the Middle East country. The inspectors, mainly veterinary doctors, nutritionists and environmentalists studied how KMC meets international standards on food safety, health and sanitation, livestock disease control and meat handling.
KMC is targeting the Middle East market to increase revenues and the company targets a 20 per cent profit at the end of this financial year.
To enhance its capacity in meeting the market demand, KMC is constructing six satellite abattoirs in major livestock keeping areas countrywide, including Wajir, Samburu, Kajiado, Isiolo, Mandera, Garissa, Marsabit and Turkana counties.
The European Union had banned the importation of Kenyan beef due to food safety concerns as a result of livestock diseases.
Kenya: The Business Hub of East Africa
Kenya is considered as the regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa. The political instability and its impact on key sectors like agriculture and tourism, had dampened the expectations of continuous growth in the country. But a diversified economy has helped East Africa’s largest economy, to experience a considerable growth in the past few years. The growth is driven by several key factors like reasonably well-educated labour force, a vital port that serves as an entry point for goods destined for countries in the East African and Central Africa interior, abundant wildlife and kilometres of attractive coastline and above all, a government that is committed to implementing business reforms. Kenya’s agricultural development remains the most important contributor to GDP.
Kenya’s position as the economic, commercial and logistical hub in Eastern Central Africa, places the country as one of the best investment destinations globally.
Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) has been on the rise and is strongest in the East Africa region. Kenya is the dominant economy in the East Africa Community, contributing more than 40% of the region’s GDP. This is also uniquely distinguished from many countries by the fact that Kenya’s economy is one of the most diversified with no oil, nor gas exports. Kenya’s growth is projected to rise to over 6% by 2025. India and Kenya are working on strengthening the ties shared by the two countries.
Kenya has a market-based economy and is generally considered the economic, commercial, and logistics hub of East Africa. With the strongest industrial base in East Africa, Kenya has been successful in attracting private equity capital. The Government’s business-friendly stance has helped set development benchmarks for a number of priority sectors. This has been complemented by the integration of the East African Community (EAC) and the establishment in 2005 of a customs union and a common market. Kenya is a member of COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) with 19 countries, and 14 of which are in a Free Trade Area (FTA). Three regional economic blocks i.e EAC, COMESA and SADC (South African Development Community) with a combined population of over 600 million people are currently developing a joint framework and roadmap towards a Free Trade Area.
