By Antynett Ford

The export of French beans, sugar snaps, and snow peas is continuing to fall sharply in 2025, say exporters, as seed shortages further depress supplies and drive up export prices.

Surging export prices,at the same time as Kenya’s main export markets suffer their biggest financial squeeze since the Great Depression, last year led to a 55 per cent fall in vegetable exports in the nine months to September, compared with the same period in 2023.

In this, a  centrsl driver in climbing prices has been seed shortages, which have caused a doubling in snow pea prices in the last year, said Beatrice Mwende, Managing Director ofChilli Expo Consult, who has worked in agricultural exporting since 2018.

“The export market in Europe can’t get enough of sugar snaps, because Kenyan farmers are experiencing challenges in securing seeds as we entirely depend on imported seeds. The export of French beans and snow peas has also significantly dropped,” she said.

The short supplies have hit harder still due to rising costs and delayed shipments on reduced freighting options.

“Since some airlines withdrew their services from Kenya to other routes (last year), there have been air freight challenges that led to reduced air freight capacity, increased air freight cost, and delayed Shipments. This has made Kenyan produce very expensive to get to the international market compared to other jurisdictions. This has affected trade in Kenya,” she said.

As a result of the reduction in carriers, freight charges that were previously ranging from $1.9 to $2 are now running at $2.3 to $2.4, 

Exports are also being caught between Europe’s phasing out of pesticides and roll out of zero-tolerance Maximum Resudue Limits, and the need to eliminate Europe’s widened list of quarantine pests, said Beatrice, who previously worked for Kenya Health Plant Inspectorate Services (KePHIS).

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 This double-edged blade is leading to an increase in the destruction of Kenya’s agricultural exports on arrival in the EU, she said

“Farmers must know which pesticides are allowed for use in their destination market and be aware of pre-harvest intervals (PHI) to avoid exceeding Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) that are set at zero, as that leads to the rejection of produce at international borders, especially in the European Union (EU) and the UK,” she said.

At the same time, “farmers should be aware of quarantine pests for their market. For instance, False Codling Moth (FCM) has led to stricter EU inspections, resulting in shipment rejections and increased sampling from 10 per cent to 25 per cent in roses, with the moth damaging Kenyan produce such as roses, chilli, aborigines, and avocado,” she said.

This year’s Economic Survey reported that fresh vegetable exports from Kenya fell by 54.7 per cent, from 164,100 tonnes in 2023 to 74,300 tonnes in 2024, with the export value dropping from $340m to $156m.

But while the export of sugar snaps has fallen sharply, prices have doubled since the beginning of last year, to between Sh200 and Sh400 ($1.50 to $3.00) per kilogram.