March 15, 2022

Kenya to review animal feed GMO directive following Ukraine-Russia war

Kenya has started the process of reviewing a directive that animal feed imports must be 100% genetically modified organism-free, a requirement that has seen traders fail to ship in yellow maize.

The move came just weeks after Ukraine, which was the main source of yellow maize for millers, is in turmoil following its invasion by Russia, which has hampered logistics along the Black Sea as most ships keep off from the area.

Livestock Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai said a meeting will be held to review the initial directive and assess the current progress since millers were allowed to import yellow maize last November.

The traders have even been unable to bring in a single bag of the produce, citing the directive which they describe as punitive and not practical.

"We are meeting with stakeholders to review the requirement that could see us adjust the compliance on non-GMO to European standards in order to allow traders to ship in this yellow maize to lower the cost of feeds," said Kimtai.

The European standards have a less stringent minimum GMO purity of 99.1% which processors manufacturers had requested the state to apply on the importation of yellow maize.

Millers had written to the government last month, wanting it to review the requirement in order to allow traders to ship in the produce as most of them fear that their commodity could be confiscated by the authorities for not conforming to the set standards.

The decision to allow yellow maize imports followed a directive by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to the country's Treasury and Agriculture Ministry to come up with a measure to control the high cost of feeds.

- Business Daily