Kenya's horticultural exports in 2018 is expected to decline as compared to last year due to the ongoing fertilizer shortage, the industry said on Friday.
Jane Ngige, coordinator of Kenya Horticulture Council (KHC), told Xinhua in Nairobi that implementation of new rules for the inspection of fertilizer imports have delayed the critical input from reaching farms.
"Unless measures are taken, we expect flower, vegetables and fruits exports to decline in 2018 due to unavailability of fertilizers for the cash crops," Ngige said.
In May, Kenya launched a multi-agency taskforce to combat counterfeit goods in the market by re-inspecting all goods at the country's points of entry.
Ngige said that the industry supports the government efforts to prevent imports of fake products but the exercise should be done in a manner that is sensitive to needs of the horticulture sector that depends on imported inputs.