Kenyan horticultural exporters are increasingly having to transport their produce by sea rather than air, as consumers and retailers in the EU market increasingly seek products with lower carbon emissions.
Stakeholders in Kenya’s horticulture sector now say the growing number of environmentally conscious consumers in Europe, coupled with competition from rival producers who mainly use sea transport to the main market, is forcing Kenya to turn to ships to cope with the pressure.
“Retailers in Europe, driven by their consumers’ demands, are increasingly demanding low-climate impact products in their markets,” said Eric van de Kamp, senior project manager at Flying Swans, a Dutch company that operates cold chain infrastructure worldwide, including in Naivasha. “There is a big difference in carbon emissions from air freight compared to sea freight. So some retailers are already demanding that all the fruit and vegetables they buy be transported by sea.”
“If we look at vegetables, for example, Kenya exports French beans to the UK and the Netherlands. Because source markets such as Morocco, Senegal and Zimbabwe have successfully switched to sea freight, retailers have increased options and can decide not to buy from Kenya,” he added.
Major European retailers, who buy the bulk of Kenya’s fresh produce, have restricted air freight in favour of sea transport.
In 2022, the UK’s largest food services company, Compass Group UK & Ireland, banned the use of air freight to transport fresh fruit and vegetables as part of its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint by 2030.
Several other retail giants in the bloc, including Lidl, have also cut back on air freight to get stock such as fresh fruit and vegetables to their stores – a move aimed at reducing the carbon emissions associated with transporting fresh produce.
While Kenya has made progress in moving avocados to the European market via sea freight, concerns are growing that the dominance of air freight in the transport of cut flowers threatens to undermine the country’s competitiveness in global markets.
“The volumes of sea freight from Kenya to the port of Rotterdam have increased because of the increase in avocado exports from the country. If you look at Kenyan avocado exports, they have doubled or even tripled over the last ten years and are still growing a lot. If you look at cut flowers and vegetables, a very limited part, five percent or so, is transported by sea freight,” said Mr Van de Kamp.
The total area under avocado cultivation in Kenya increased from 25,669 hectares in 2022 to 33,428 hectares in 2023, with total production rising by 82.4 percent to 805,500 tonnes.
Horticulture is Kenya’s second largest source of export earnings, generating Sh187.5 billion in 2023, narrowly behind tea, which generated Sh188.7 billion, of which Sh107.6 billion is attributed to cut flowers.
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