Industry Analyses Export Rejection Data for Strong Standard compliance

The State Department for Industry is committed to strengthening Kenya’s agricultural food products competitiveness.
In a meeting with the United Nations Industrial Organization (UNIDO) team from Vienna, the SDI sought  to advance the Standards Compliance Analytics (SCA) and Quality Infrastructure (QI) initiative. 
Together with TradeMark Africa (TMA), the team is analyzing export rejection data from major markets, including the EU, US, China, and beyond, to strengthen Kenya’s agricultural food products competitiveness. The goal is to identify systemic compliance gaps and build a stronger, more coordinated quality infrastructure for Kenyan exporters.
This collaborative effort will assess laboratory capacity, inspection services, and accreditation systems to ensure they meet international requirements. By addressing root causes of non-compliance, the initiative aims to reduce costly border rejections and expand market access for Kenyan producers, particularly micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
In his sentiments, Director for Industries, Joseph Mbeva noted that the collaboration between the national government, county governments and parastatals will make it easier to harmonize quality standards across the country. 

"The County Aggregation and Industrial Parks, an initiative between the national and county government, is one of the main tools used in ensuring quality of Kenyan agricultural products. These parks provide critical infrastructure for smallholder farmers to access extension services, grading facilities, and collective processing, which significantly improves consistency and compliance with export market requirements," he remarked.