The Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) has warned of unscrupulous practices being witnessed in the macadamia industry.
AFA is mandated to regulate, develop, and promote the Nuts and Oil Crops Sub-sector.
Some of the malpractices the authority warned against include harvesting, handling, trading, and processing immature macadamia nuts and unauthorized trading of nuts by unlicensed individuals, particularly marketing agents.
Others include improper discharge of rejected low-quality nuts into the supply chain where they are often mixed with higher-quality nuts and resold to unsuspecting processors and smuggling of macadamia nuts in-shell out of the country.
The authority, in a statement on Thursday, cautioned the individuals linked to the practices saying they risked undermining the integrity of the products, its supply chain and reputation that it has earned over the years.
“We will intensify surveillance and enforcement across macadamia-growing and trading regions, aggregation stores, processing facilities and exit points,” as a statement by AFA Director General Bruno Linyiru read in part.
Linyiru said it will collaborate with County Governments, other Government agencies and law enforcement agencies in the operation.
“Individuals or companies found engaging in the harvesting, trading, or processing of immature nuts, operating without a valid license, or discharging rejected/ poor-quality nuts back into the supply chain or smuggling of nuts out of the country will face strict legal action, including license suspension/revocation and criminal prosecution,” he added.
The Director General urged all stakeholders—farmers, traders, processors, and exporters to adhere to the relevant regulations and standards.
This would ensure the protection of the reputation, sustainability, and profitability of Kenya’s macadamia industry.
The government has in the recent past taken extreme measures like imposing a seasonal ban on macadamia export to protect the quality of the product.
Kenya is currently ranked among the top producers of macadamia globally with the sector being mostly export-oriented.
