Logistics Update Africa — January 24, 2018

JAN - FEB 2018 LUA 23

CEO, Kenya Horticulture Council.

Peter Musola, cargo commercial manager,

Kenya Airways, highlighted the need of

government interventions and support. He

said, “Creation and negotiations of policies is

critical for the trade. The industry’s growth

will also depend on how governments drive

the policy.”

The pressing issues of lack of

infrastructure especially that of road

connectivity, storage facility, and

inadequate temperature-controlled

transportation facilities are highlighted

as the crucial issues that are seeking

concentrated attention. It is estimated that

1.3 billion tonnes of food items are wasted

globally in a year. The case is no different

for African countries. The percentage of

wastage is higher in Africa as well.

Dr. Isaac Macharia, general manager,

Sanjeev Gadhia of

Astral Aviation

L to R: Gladys Maina of DYSA Consulting, David Onyango of Flamingo

Horticulture, Lucy Njeri of Saipei Foods, Joseph Kinga Muiruiri of

Agricounty Consult, Milton Nyakundi - Media consultant

A

frica has been exporting
perishables, especially fruits
and vegetables to the world
market in large quantities.
With increasing agricultural produce, the
continent aspires to explore more global
destinations. Currently, the major volumes
of agricultural products from African
continent are exported to Europe. The
decline in domestic agricultural produce in
Europe favours more imports from Africa.
Over the past few years the agricultural
products and processed horticultural
products exports from Kenya rose
considerably. In 2016, Kenya’s earnings
from horticulture exports jumped 12
percent to Sh101.51 billion crossing the
Sh100billion mark for the first time.
“We transfer over 210 tonnes of
perishables per week. Nairobi is slowly
becoming the hub for transporting
perishables, this is very exciting” said
Sanjeev Gadhia, founder and chief
executive officer, Astral Aviation.
Themed ‘Creating Africa’s future
logistics grid for perishables’, the first
edition of Perishable Logistics Africa 2017
held on November 23, 2017 in Nairobi,
deliberated on the challenges and solutions
to enhance Africa’s perishable trade.
“We need to focus on infrastructure
to make the industry better. Industry has
become a victim of its own success. It is
crucial that we find a binding thread to
bring in collaboration. We need to focus
on sustainability to create an enabling
environment for better cohesion amongst
the service providers,” said Jane Ngige,