A farmer sorts macadamia nuts at his home in Ichamaara village in Nyeri County on June 30, 2023.
Barely days after the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) denied reports of lifting the ban on the export of raw macadamia nuts, a 20 metric tonne consignment has been intercepted at the port of Mombasa headed to Mozambique.
Three 40-foot containers loaded with unprocessed nuts worth more than Sh9 million were seized by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
This was after intelligence reports in the wake of outcry by local processors that the export of raw nuts to China has been going on, denying local processors raw materials despite their increased processing capacity.
Kenya has an installed capacity of 120,000 metric tons against a production of 60,000 tons.
The seizure follows a recent ban by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development on the export of in-shell macadamia nuts to protect Kenya’s local processing industry and ensure quality control.
"KRA officials intercepted three 40-foot containers at the Port of Mombasa suspected of containing in-shell macadamia nuts, declared for export to Mozambique. The containers, declared as carrying tarpaulin, were flagged following intelligence gathered by KRA’s Customs and Border Control team," said Customs and Border Control Department Ms Lilian Nyawanda.
In a statement, she said the containers are currently held at the Customs Warehouse, Kilindini, pending full inspection by a multi-agency team.
"This interception underscores KRA’s commitment to enforcing export regulations and safeguarding Kenya’s agricultural sector. Any confirmed violations may result in penalties, including fines or legal action, as per Kenyan law," said Ms Nyawanda.
According to documents seen by the Nation.Africa, the containers exported by Dli International Trade Company Limited were expected to be delivered to Starkey Group LDA in Maputo, Mozambique.
According to Dr Bruno Linyiru, AFA Director General, the destination was a disguise since China is the only known country that imports raw macadamia nuts.
Early this year, AFA banned the export of raw, in-shell macadamia nuts.
Also Read: Export ban hits macadamia farmers
Middlemen buying raw nuts off the harvest season scheduled by AFA encourage farmers to harvest nuts by shaking trees.
Dr Linyiru said the best practice would be to allow the mature nuts to naturally fall from the trees.
"Shaking trees leads to huge losses through immature harvest, which finally find their way to local processors, compromising the quality of the locally processed nuts," said Dr Linyiru.
The ban on raw macadamia exports is intended to promote the local processing industry and ensure farmers receive fair prices for their produce. It is also meant to create jobs in this labour-intensive industry.
AFA has been actively monitoring the industry, conducting stock verification, and working with law enforcement agencies to curb illegal activities like the export of immature nuts and the use of fraudulent documents.
The ban on exportation of unprocessed nuts was lifted on November 2, 2023, by former CS Mithika Linturi and expired on November 2 last year, after which former CS Andrew Karanja then extended the period to January 2 this year.
On February 6, AFA announced that it will be intensifying its crackdown in the sector, saying it had received reports from stakeholders indicating that there has been a rise in malpractices.
To protect farmers, the government is proposing to form cooperatives in the next financial year. Although the government has set a minimum farm gate price of Sh100 per kilo, middlemen still dominate the supply chain, and farmers are earning far less than the set prices.
A section of players in the macadamia sub-sector have been agitating for the removal of section 43 of the AFA Act that prohibits the exportation of raw nuts and oil crops.
Farmer holds a macadamia nuts harvest.
They claim that the law only benefits large-scale nut processors who can acquire high-cost processing machines.
But industry experts argue that there is a need to increase production to cater for all industry stakeholders, including those who advocate for a quarter system where, apart from local processing, controlled raw macadamia export can be allowed.
