Kenya Demands COMESA Ban On Hazardous Pesticides Safegaurd Farmer Health And Health

BY ERIC ABUGA

Kenya has made an urgent call for a region wide crackdown on the use of hazardous pesticides within the COMESA bloc.

The continued circulation of chemicals banned in some Member States but permitted in others is compromising food safety, public health, and the integrity of regional agricultural trade.

Speaking at the 9th Joint COMESA Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment in Lusaka, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe called for immediate harmonization of chemical safety standards and the enforcement of collective prohibitions on dangerous substances across all Member States.

“The current situation where a pesticide banned in one country continues to be used next door completely undermines our collective SPS [Sanitary and Phytosanitary] efforts. We are exposing our farmers, our consumers, and our markets to unnecessary and unacceptable risk.”

Kenya emphasized that effective regional food safety cannot exist without a common regulatory approach.

The lack of consistency, Kagwe noted, allows unscrupulous traders to exploit gaps in enforcement, contributing to widespread contamination and the erosion of consumer trust in local and regional food systems.

“We must not let fragmented policies stand in the way of our people’s safety. Harmonizing chemical standards is not optional, it is urgent.”

In his broader remarks, the CS underscored Kenya’s readiness to support regional reforms, calling for bold leadership to transform COMESA from a “talk shop” into a functional platform for economic development, agricultural resilience, and food independence.

Other proposals from Kenya during the meeting included the sharing of agricultural technologies such as livestock vaccines, the development of protocols for cross-border trade in certified seeds, and digital innovations for agricultural planning.

But the strongest message remained clear: the time to act on hazardous agrochemicals is now.

“Let this meeting be remembered not for what we discussed, but for what we dared to do,” he concluded.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has 21 member states. These are: Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.