Kenya Bans Maize Imports From Her Neighbors Uganda & Tanzania

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in Business March 6, 2021

Kenya has terminated all maize imports from her immediate neighbors Uganda and Tanzania with immediate effect. The acting Director-General of the Agriculture and Food Authority, Kello Harsama wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Customs in the Kenya Revenue Authority.

In the letter, Kello said Kenya should stop maize imports from Uganda and Tanzania. This is after a survey indicated maize from the two countries is not fit for human consumption.

The Kenyan authority had conducted continuous surveillance on the safety of food imports into the country. Maize imports from Uganda and Tanzania have high levels of mycotoxins that are consistently beyond safety limits.

Mycotoxins are naturally occurring toxins that certain moulds produce and can be found in food.

Moulds can also grow on a variety of crops and foodstuffs including cereals, spices, fruits, and cooked food itself. This often happens under warm and humid conditions. Mycotoxins are capable of causing disease and death in humans and some animals.

However, according to Kenya’s body that deals with the importation of foodstuffs, the importation of the product has been stopped with immediate effect. This also happens as the country works on seeing a way forward with the two countries.

‘’The Republic of Kenya is however committed to facilitating safe trade with her trading partners. And also look forward to working closely with all stakeholders to address the concern,’’ the letter partly said.

The news will hit hard Ugandan traders and farmers who earn a living off the maize sold in the Kenyan market. It had also recently become the leading export to Kenya.

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