Kenya and Uganda are advocating for increased agricultural trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with maize trade being a central focus. However, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Mutahi Kagwe, insists on stringent food safety standards, particularly regarding aflatoxin-free grain.

• Kenya is willing to increase maize imports from Uganda, provided post-harvest handling, especially drying, is improved to eliminate aflatoxin contamination.
• The discussions involved Mutahi Kagwe and members of the Ugandan Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, highlighting the need to remove practical barriers to intra-African trade.
• Both countries aim to balance facilitating trade with protecting consumers and strengthening regional economic integration, with Uganda calling for harmonised agricultural and trade protocols.

Kenya is seeking to increase maize imports from Uganda, but aflatoxin contamination remains a significant challenge. Both nations are keen to boost agricultural trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

• Kenya plans to import 1 million 90-kilogram bags of maize to replenish strategic reserves due to a disrupted harvest.
• Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe emphasized the need for Uganda to strengthen grain drying mechanisms to ensure aflatoxin-free maize.
• Concerns over moisture and aflatoxin levels have made some Kenyan millers hesitant to purchase Ugandan maize, hindering increased cross-border trade.

New research in Kenya has identified storage at markets as a primary cause of food losses, emphasizing the need for better market coordination and commercially viable solutions to reduce waste and improve access to nutritious food.

• Food losses were found to occur more frequently during storage at markets than during transportation, particularly affecting larger vendors with higher volumes of unsold produce.
• The NutriSave programme, funded by the Gates Foundation and the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), conducted the research in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
• Sebastian Oggema, Acting Country Director at TechnoServe, highlighted the crucial role of informal food vendors in addressing food loss and improving access to nutritious food for low-income consumers.