Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, Peter Munya has announced new regulations that are expected to deal with cartels dominating the food industry, particularly in the cereals sector.
The new regulations target traders who operate warehouses that deal with food commodities.
Such warehouses will only be operated by companies showing the ability to raise adequate capital to cater for the initial investment in infrastructure and three years operational expenses. The companies are to be licensed under the new warehouse receipt system.
This is a condition that lies among other criteria outlined in the new Warehouse Receipt System Regulations, 2021 recently published by, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS).
The regulations are set to ensure central registry, licensing of warehouse operators, warehouse receipts, negotiation and transfer of receipts, duties and obligations of warehouse operators, depositor and pledgee.
CS Munya said that companies dealing in food commodities will be required to first apply for a certificate of conformity from the warehouse receipt system council before applying for licenses from the county governments.
He added that “an application for a warehouse operator’s license shall be made to the respective county executive committee member of the respective county government in Form 1C set out in the First Schedule and be accompanied with a non-refundable application fee prescribed in the Third Schedule.”
Revoking of licenses is to be done on companies who repeatedly fail to remit returns on the operation, professional misconduct, falsification of documents and improper use of the license.
The Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) has been inspecting and certifying warehouses under National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) since last year.
The acting director General of AFA, Anthony Muriithi said that inspection of the stores is part of the implementation of the new reforms that were tabled last year. He added that the inspection has been followed by the accreditation of the facilities.
"The silos must meet Codex standards- a collection of practice adopted by Codex Alimentarius Commission, the joint intergovernmental body of Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization," Muriithi added.
According to AFA Food Crops Directorate interim director, Leonard Kubook, the certified stores under the NCPB are 216, with 118 all under the NCPB which is 65 percent of the total warehouses of the agency. The few remaining warehouses need to meet some specifications before they get certified.
Also being inspected by AFA are stores managed by the Kenya National Trading Corporation, private sector and co-operative societies. Kubook mentioned that a team of inspectors has been assessing key parameters before certifying the stores.
The key parameters were named as; pest management and seepage systems, easy accessibility, air ventilation, well-done floors, pallets, CCTV systems, septic structures, fire extinguishers, toilets and that main entrances must have a canopy.
