After the Flower Logistics Africa 2018, the second edition of Perishable Logistics Africa happened at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Nairobi, bringing together key stakeholders in the perishables supply chain. The theme was “Collaboration: The Road Ahead to Improve Logistics for Africa's Perishable Produce”. The day-long discussions amplified the call to create industry collaborations to improve Africa's perishable exports through better logistics network and cold chain infrastructure.
The theme on collaboration was timely as earlier in the year, African leaders signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a single market for goods and services in Africa. With this FTA, the market size is expected to include 1.7 billion people with over $6.7 trillion of cumulative consumer and business spending by 2030.
Integration between small scale holder farmers was identified as key to achieving value preposition throughout all conversations. Speaking on the topic, Dr. Isaac Macharia, the General Manager for phytosanitary services in Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) mentioned that "We train and advise small scale and aspiring farmers on how to access and prepare for the market by providing them with market dynamics. We also link them with associations of help in the supply chain."