By Antynet Ford

The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) has opened audit applications for avocado farmers seeking licenses to export to China and India, following the country’s newly negotiated duty reductions into the Chinese market.

With the main avocado season due to start in March, the audits open an opportunity for new entrants into the two markets, with current export licenses expiring on 30th June.

In January 2026, the government announced it had achieved a trade deal with China giving Kenya 98.2 per cent duty-free access.

In an exclusive interview with FarmBizAfrica on behalf of the KePHIS Managing Director, Josiah Syanda, the Deputy Director KePHIS for the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport region said only farms that meet registration, pest management and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) requirements will qualify for the audit approval required for farmers to export to China or India either directly or through approved exporters and packhouses.

Farmers must first officially register with the KePHIS Integrated Export and Import Certification System and be assigned a unique farm code. They can then apply for the China or India audits through the system.

“The framework is risk-based and protocol-driven, anchored on bilateral market requirements,” said Josiah.

KePHIS has not published the China or India protocols for farmers and there is no public access to them, but for China-bound avocados, all fresh consignments must undergo methyl bromide fumigation to eliminate fruit flies and false codling moth, using a prescribed dosage of 32 g/m³ for two hours at 21.1°C or above, said Josiah.

Orchards must also remove fallen fruit promptly, and run integrated pest management (IPM) programmes, as well as records of continuous pest monitoring and pesticide use, including active ingredients, dosage and application time.

These unpublished rules are designed to protect China from a series of quarantine pests that are prevalent in Kenya, including fruit flies, such as Ceratitis capitata, C. cosyra, and C. rosa, as well as the False Codling Moth (Thaumatotibia leucotreta) and several scaly insects.

Any detection of a live quarantine pests can result in shipment rejection and suspension of the orchard or packhouse.

Josiah described India’s conditions, also unpublished and unavailable for farmer access, as “less prescriptive,” but also dependent on packhouse approvals, pest management, use of closed trucks for transporting harvested fruit, and the segregation of produce meant for India from other export markets.

For exports to India, farmers and exporters can choose between fumigation or cold treatment. Cold treatment options include storage at 0°C or below for 10 days, or alternative time-temperature combinations, all witnessed by KEPHIS inspectors.

“The baseline requirements are uniform, covering registration, traceability, and phytosanitary compliance. However, market-specific conditions apply, particularly for China: China requires farm-specific approval, pest freedom verification, and strict orchard management protocols. India’s requirements are comparatively less prescriptive but still demand compliance with international standard for phytosanitary measure (ISPMS) for control of pests and to national import conditions,” said Josiah.

KePHIS has not indicated how farmers might best ensure their compliance ahead of audit applications in the absence of any farmer access to the specific rules they must meet, but in a boost to smallholder farmers, KEPHIS clarified that there is no minimum farm size requirement for export eligibility.

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“Eligibility is determined by compliance capacity rather than acreage. Smallholder farms may qualify if they are part of a cluster, cooperative, or exporter-managed production system and can meet volume consistency, traceability, and pest management requirements,” he said.

Although GAP certification is not mandatory, farms must demonstrate equivalent GAP compliance, which is verified through the audits, said Josiah.

“The report is shared to the operator as soon as the audit is completed. It is also sent to market destination for update of their records. The reports are private data records and can only be released to the owners,” he said.

“Farms which have failed during assessment may: demonstrate readiness for compliance within defined timelines and be considered for subsequent audit rounds, subject to their compliance to the prevailing market requirements,” said Josiah.

Key lessons in preparing for exporting to the two markets, he said, include the need for early audits, stronger traceability systems, continuous capacity building, and exporter-led compliance models to improve consistency across the value chain.

While KePHIS has not assisted this with any publication of the compliance requirements, it is now working to progressively harmonise the baseline requirements for China and India to reduce duplication, lower compliance costs and simplify adoption, while still meeting market-specific conditions, said Josiah.

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