Small scale herbs and spices farmers capture export markets

As demand for fresh produce like herbs and spices grows in the export markets, vanguard farmers are tapping into these crops and accessing the export markets directly. This is a departure from the past where this market was a preserve of big farms.

As a result, farmers are dumping traditional crops like maize and beans and embracing these high value crops that are not only introducing them to new markets, but also boosting their incomes up to 4 folds.

A burgeoning European appetite for basil, a versatile aromatic herb in the mint family, has opened a window of opportunity for farmers in Nakuru County who are now earning up to Sh200, 000 a month in exports.

Working with Premier Seeds Limited, a vegetable seed company, the farmers, who have traditionally relied on the overcrowded cereal farming, have now found a lifeline in a perennial herb whose multiple health and nutritional benefits has made it a hit internationally.

International buyers say East Africa meets a paltry 15 per cent of their demand for the herb even as markets continue to balloon following discovery of new uses of the herb. “The markets have expressed insatiable appetite for the herb. With our first farmers, we are producing 1.6 tonnes of basil against a demand 6tonnes per month from the importer we work with. The onus is on us to sell us more, the markets keep telling us,” said Mr. Simon Andys the founder of Premier Seeds.

The herb has become an instant hit with Nakuru farmers making an initial foray into horticulture for its ease of cultivation and growth traits. A bushy annual plant, it takes on average 42 days to mature and produces light green silky leaves which tastes somewhat like cloves with a strong pungent and sweet smell. Farmers harvest the leaves after every ten days. A typical greenhouse measuring 8 by 30 meters produces on average 125 kilos of basil every week with a kilo going for Sh390. In a month a farmer is able to make on average upto Sh180, 000. The crop is also a pest and mosquito repellent meaning and is rarely attacked by pests.

And as the international markets warm up further to the culinary herb, Premier Seeds is working with farmers to grow another set of herbs including coriander, oregano, lovage, dill and Melissa in the course of the year. “We are responding to market demands. The demand for basil has been meteoric and when the buyers suggested that we should consider growing the other herbs we said why not,” Said Andys.

In Bahati Constituency in Nakuru, another group of farmers are growing chives, a herb that belongs to the onion family, with the export market expressing insatiable appetite for their produce which earns them up to Sh600 a kilo.

The farmers, who traditionally farmed maize and beans, have now become net exporters of the herb.

The demand for chives has been on a meteoric rise in Europe, averaging between two and four per cent each year, making it the favourite across the entire basket of herbs that include coriander, basil and parsel among others. UAE countries have also expressed growing interest in Kenyan chives. The Nakuru farmers have found a buyer who they have entered into a one year contract with.

In Siaya County, a retired civil servant is creating a herbs and spices revolution by growing an array of the fresh produce.

The herbs and spices farming has captured international markets while creating a new age farming renaissance in an area that has traditionally been synonymous with farming of traditional low yielding crops like maize and beans. It is a revolution that has now attracted cardiologists, engineers and lecturers who are now trying their hand in herbs farming.

To sate the insatiable appetite for the herbs especially in the European market, Tangla Gardens has already made shipments of chives, thyme, mint, pepper mint, rosemary and oregano to Netherlands and Belgium and is working on delivering more orders to Italy and the rest of Europe.

The company is also in talks with Inspira Farms, a company that works with agribusinesses and exporters on cold chain solutions to construct a modern packhouse to expedite sorting and packaging of the herbs. The company is also betting on the proximity to the Kisumu International Airport to increase export volumes.

“There is a growing demand for these spices and herbs especially by a burgeoning middle class who are keen on their health and we are warming up to meet this booming demand by increasing the variety of herbs and area under production. We want the world to enjoy freshly grown herbs from this side of Africa even as we contribute to the general health of the citizens of the world. We respond to market needs,” Mr, Joseph Opondo, the Director of Tangla Gardens said.

A health-conscious middle class is driving the growth of culinary herbs and spices in the international markets which has been on a meteoric rise. Key markets include the EU which in 2013 imported 302,000 tonnes of spices and herbs from developing countries like Kenya worth € 1 billion.

Global market for culinary herbs and spices has been on an upward trajectory and is currently valued at approximately $ 2.3 billion with chives being among the frontrunners according to the International Trade Center with the EU forming the bulk of this market.