The Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) has revealed that it will, in the next two months, lead a team from several agencies to conduct a mandatory mapping of all coffee farms in the country in line with the new European Union Deforestation Regulations (EUDR).
In a statement on Monday, July 28, AFA said that the teams that will be under the EUDR Data Committee, will comprise the State Department of Agriculture (SDA) and the Kenya Space Agency (KSA) the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), the Directorate of Remote Survey and Remote Sensing (DRSRS), and the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization.
So far, according to the AFA, 30 percent of the national coffee area, spanning 16 out of 33 counties, has already been geo-mapped using satellite imagery by the team since the exercise kicked off.
AFA said that the teams will be mapping out the remaining part under coffee production countrywide before December 30, which is the deadline.
"To ensure full implementation of the regulation, the Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, has embarked on a process to map all the parcels of land under coffee farming in the country," the statement reads in part.
According to the AFA, by erecting the new regulations, the EU aims to ensure that a set of key products exported in the EU and globally, which are heavily linked to deforestation, such as coffee, cocoa, soy, beef, palm oil, rubber, and wood, no longer enter the EU market.
"To ensure full implementation of the regulation, the Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, has embarked on a process to map all the parcels of land under coffee farming in the country," AFA stated.
"Currently, approximately 30% of the national coffee area in 16 counties out of 33 has been geo-mapped using satellite imagery. This represents 32,688 Ha of coffee farms out of the total coffee area of 109,384 Ha countrywide," it added.
Kenya risks losing up to Ksh90 billion in coffee exports if it fails to complete the geo-mapping within the set timeframes.
The government's goal is to achieve full compliance by November 2025, a month before the EU’s enforcement date of December 30.
According to the AFA, it was revealed that Kenya exported 122,699 metric tonnes of clean coffee to the EU over the past five years.
"Kenya exports 95% of its coffee, with approximately 55% exported to the EU, mainly Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and Finland," it stated.
