LUSAKA, Zambia – Kenya is pushing the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to impose a region-wide ban on hazardous pesticides, warning that fragmented regulations are threatening food safety, public health, and cross-border agricultural trade.
Speaking at the 9th Joint COMESA Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment in Lusaka, Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe urged the 21-member bloc to urgently harmonise chemical safety standards.
Kagwe warned that the continued use of pesticides banned in some countries but allowed in others was undermining sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) safeguards across borders.
“The current situation where a pesticide banned in one country continues to be used next door completely undermines our collective SPS efforts. We are exposing our farmers, our consumers, and our markets to unnecessary and unacceptable risk,” he said.
The CS said inconsistent rules had created loopholes for unscrupulous traders to exploit, leading to contaminated produce and eroding public trust in agricultural systems.
“We must not let fragmented policies stand in the way of our people’s safety. Harmonising chemical standards is not optional — it is urgent,” he stressed.
Kagwe called on COMESA to move beyond discussions and embrace decisive policy action, reiterating Kenya’s readiness to support bold reforms to boost agricultural resilience and economic transformation.
Kenya’s proposals included joint livestock vaccine development, cross-border protocols for certified seed trade, and the adoption of digital tools to improve agricultural planning.
But Kagwe emphasized that eliminating hazardous agrochemicals must take priority.
“Let this meeting be remembered not for what we discussed, but for what we dared to do,” he concluded.
COMESA’s 21 members include Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
