Export of raw nuts still goes on

This follows Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA)’s January 9 seizure of a container of raw macadamia nuts before it could be exported illegally.

Fears are growing that despite a ban on the export of raw nuts in 2009, unscrupulous traders are still selling them outside the country.

Papers with the container indicated it held processed macadamia nuts.

“The container has been placed under customs control to facilitate further investigations pending appropriate action as provided for by law,” said Fatma Yusuf, a senior assistant commissioner in charge of communication & promotion at KRA.

we are concerned that a well-coordinated syndicate has facilitated the export of raw nuts through the port of Mombasa despite the ban.

Local processors, who have been at the forefront of the push for the ban raw nut exports, require Kenya Revenue Authority to over out thorough investigations.

The task force said the country had created sufficient processing capacity, & exporting raw nuts was robbing Kenyans of jobs & raw materials.

A task force formed in 2009 by former minister of Agriculture William Ruto recommended a ban on the export of in-shell nuts to promote value addition through processing.

If anything, production of nuts has been in a decline. In 2009 production of cashew  nuts dropped to 10,000 tonnes from 14,000 metric tonnes three years ago, according to statistics from the ministry of Agriculture

Kenya Nuts Ltd chairman Pius Ngugi said processors have a combined processing capacity of more than 50,000 tonnes of nuts, but the country was producing less than half that capacity.

Farmers are producing fewer nuts because of poor farm gate prices that reach them after the lots of middlemen in the promotion chain have taken their cut.

“Such prices cannot support commercial production of the crop,” said Francis Muniu, national nuts research coordinator at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari).

The prohibited exporters of raw nuts bought more than 50 percent of the produce from middlemen.

When the government imposed the export ban, National Cereals & Produce Board (NCPB) as a regulator was supposed to buy the nuts from farmers & rid the industry of middlemen who dominated the market,  for cashew & macadamia nuts.

But the government seldom provided the NCPB with cash, leaving farmers at the mercy of middlemen who buy the nuts for as low as Sh15 per kilogramme, then sell them to processors for Sh34 per kilogramme.

The ban was temporarily lifted for 90 days last May, but dealers rejected the window & called for a permanent lift.

“Dealers have since shifted to Tanzania & West Africa where there is ample supply of nuts,” Mr Varghase said.

According to Kenya Cashew Nuts Processors & Exporters Association chairman Samuel Varghase, it is not economically viable for exporters of raw nuts to generate value addition units in Kenya, based on current production levels.

Efforts last month by Agriculture minister Dr Sally Kosgey, to prolong the lift on the ban for another four months were suspended by the court following an application by the processors.

Instead, the court directed that all steps be taken to enforce it & forbid the promotion & export of raw nuts from Kenya.
Cashew nut stakeholders have since formed a committee to help market the produce, following the failure by the NCPB to generate structures.

A meeting last month by the three local nut processors, the ministry of Agriculture officials & farmers drawn from three cashew nut catchments areas in the Coast Province formed a 15-member committee to guide farmers in promotion the crop this season.

(Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Export%20of%20raw%20nuts%20still%20goes%20on%20%20/-/1006/1097928/-/item/1/-/bp1ygk/-/index.html)