Government to effect ban on use of raw manure – KBC

The government maintains the ban on the use of raw manure by farmers will be effected as measure to ensure food safety standards, despite complaints about the proposed measure.

Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga says the bacterial viral load in fresh animal waste compromises food safety standards that might hurt Kenya’s agricultural exports.

A government proposal to ban the use of raw manure in farming activities elicited an uproar from those in the farming value chain as well as environmentalists who were of the opinion that organic farming was good for the long term.

However, Boga says the government will go ahead to implement the ban on use of manure in farming as a measure safeguard Kenya’s international market for farm produce.

Boga says the bacterial viral load in raw manure is harmful to human health and there is need for it to be passed through different procedures before being used.

Despite calls by farmers on the government to engage Chinese avocado importers to relax some rules such as ripening the produce, pealing it and freezing it before shipments, the government is adamant there will be no such engagements urging farmers to form cooperatives to conform to the standards.

This comes after revelations that only one avocado exporter has managed to meet the stringent standards by the Chinese market.