Just a month after Somalia allowed Kenya to more than double the volumes of miraa exported to their lucrative market, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mithika Linturi has revealed plans to increase the consignments exported to not only Somali but also other nations.
CS Linturi noted that President William Ruto’s-government aims at ensuring trade barriers hindering the growth of the renowned Miraa industry are scrapped.
“We are aiming to increase the miraa exports to Somalia and other nations and also remove trade barriers that hinder the growth of the Miraa industry as a cash crop for our farmers,” Linturi noted.
In his comments after meeting Somalia President Sheikh Mohamud in Italy, CS Linturi revealed that they discussed the opportunities in the Kenyan Agricultural sector, especially in the Miraa industry.
Miraa exports, which increased last month to 50 tonnes daily, had been capped at a maximum of 19 tonnes a day by Mogadishu when the trade between the two countries resumed last year in July after the shipment of the stimulant had been banned by Somalia authorities in 2020.
The move came as a boost to many traders who had to seek alternative markets for their produce.
The meeting between CS Linturi and the Somalia President is expected to revamp the Miraa industry and give hope to miraa traders who had earlier raised concerns that the allocated quota by the Somali government was limiting them from exploring the full potential of the market.
A kilogram of miraa in Somali is currently going for about Sh 2,800 but traders say it is still lower when compared to the Sh 3,140 that it fetched before the market was closed.
Somalia has been a crucial export market for Kenyan khat traders ever since the Netherlands and Britain imposed a ban in 2012 and 2014 respectively, joining the ranks of other Western nations which classify it as a drug.
