Exporters of fresh produce in Kenya have been counting their losses following the power outage that hit the country last Friday.
According to the nation.africa, Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya says it members, who are a major source of Kenya’s foreign exchange earnings, are unable to plan shipments out of the country because of the disruption caused by the blackout.
“It’s a major blow for us as fresh produce exporters. We haven’t quantified it yet but I can tell you it is in hundreds of millions. We do our largest lift of cargo out of the country on weekends and if you consider the mess we have had, it’s really unfortunate, “ the consortium’s chief executive officer, Okisegere Ojepat, said.
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Kenya’s horticulture earnings in 2022 are estimated at Sh152.3 billion, down from Sh158.0 billion in 2021. Horticulture is one of Kenya’s main sources of hard currency.
Ojepat says players in the sector have been hit multiple times, from production on the farm to transportation to destination markets.
“Farmers use fatigation to release a prescribed amount of fertilizer and water t their crop within given durations. Without power, that cannot happen so already yield will be affected. Transportation usually happens by day and packaging is done by night. So what happened yesterday is that workers turned up at night for work that was eventually not done because of power outage at night. Then we have cold chains which run on power and as it is, they cannot be used,” says Ojepat.
The consortium is now calling on the government to urgently stabilize the power supply across the country.
