KENYA— The Government of Kenya has issued additional tariff exemptions for genetically engineered Bt. cottonseed cake, distillers’ dried grains with solubles, and rapeseed cake to address rising feed costs.
However, industry sources note these new exemptions are unlikely to reduce feed costs as Kenya prohibits imports of most GE feed ingredients.
On September 8, 2021, President Uhuru Kenyatta declared Kenya’s feed shortage a national emergency in response to rising feed costs triggered by a supply shortfall of feed ingredients due to regional drought.
On December 10, 2021, Kenya waived tariffs on non-genetically engineered (GE) corn,
soymeal, cottonseed cake, sunflower seed cake, white sorghum, and fish meal imported for animal feed.
According to industry sources, these tariff exemptions had little effect on feed prices as Kenya’s primary constraint was a lack of available ingredients from non-GE producing countries.
Six months later, on June 10, 2022, the Government of Kenya released Gazette Notice 6615, which expands tariff exemptions to include non-GE soybeans, cottonseed cake derived from GE Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt.) cotton, distillers’ dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and rapeseed cake.
With the exception of Bt. cottonseed cake, the June gazette requires most feed ingredients to be 99.1 percent free of GE content to benefit from market entry and duty exemptions.
However, this threshold effectively excludes GE-derived products like DDGS. Kenya’s primary feed constraint remains a lack of an adequate supply of ingredients from non-GE producing countries.
International supplies of key feed ingredients are dominated by GE-producing countries, making conventional alternatives relatively scarce.
Additionally, advance contracting of conventional crops reduces the supply of non-GE soybeans available for short-term buying, complicating purchases for immediate delivery.
Product-specific requirements for duty-free imports are as follows:
Yellow corn, Soybeans, soy meal, sunflower cake and white sorghum: Must be 99.1 % non-genetically modified, must be accompanied by a certificate of conformity issued by KEBS, must only be used for the manufacture of animal feeds and must have been imported on or before October 31, 2022.
All these apply for Cottonseed cake except, in accordance with the laws of Kenya and Kenya Standards applicable under the laws of Kenya and implemented by the Kenya Bureau of Standards and National Biosafety Authority, Cottonseed cake can be either GE cottonseed cake from Bt. cotton or non-GE cotton
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