By Mᴀʀʏ Mᴡᴇɴᴅᴇ,
October 9, 2025
Kenya’s horticulture sector holds immense potential as a major contributor to the export economy, especially within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region, which covers 11.8 million square kilometers. Fresh produce, such as flowers, fruits, and vegetables, offers valuable income opportunities for millions of smallholder farmers across Kenya and other COMESA countries. However, despite these opportunities, major bottlenecks in infrastructure and logistics seriously threaten the sector’s competitiveness and farmers’ ability to benefit from global markets.
Hosea Machuki, CEO of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK), recently highlighted at the ongoing 24th COMESA Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) the critical challenges hampering the export success of Kenyan horticulture. Central to these challenges is the need for speed, precision, and maintaining controlled temperatures during the transport of fresh produce, a requirement hampered by poor rural infrastructure. Many rural roads remain underdeveloped or in poor condition, severely delaying the movement of perishable goods from farms to export points.
Machuki shared a recent experience traveling about 380 km west of Nairobi, including a 20 km stretch of rough earth road that took almost an hour and a half to cover. Such delays directly impact the freshness and quality of produce, raising the risk of spoilage and lost income for smallholder farmers. While Kenya boasts modern infrastructure such as the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), this asset remains underutilized for fresh produce transport, limiting the country’s ability to maximize efficient, multimodal logistics that integrate rail, road, and air freight.
Adding to the challenge is inadequate cold storage capacity along the supply chain, especially in inland areas where farmers are located. Without sufficient cold storage facilities, perishables start to deteriorate before reaching export hubs and airports, reducing their market value and acceptance.
The cost of logistics has become one of the largest barriers to competitiveness in the horticultural export sector. Machuki cited data showing that shipping fresh produce per kilo from Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to Schiphol in the Netherlands can cost between $280 and $340. Comparatively, neighbouring Ethiopia offers lower logistics costs ranging between $160 and $220 per kilo, while other regional competitors like Rwanda and Harare present costs between $230-$310 per kilo. These high costs cripple Kenya’s ability to compete on price in key export markets such as the European Union.
The geography and logistics realities further complicate the situation. For example, a French bean grower in Morocco can ship produce to Spain, a market located just 14 km by boat, at a fraction of the cost Kenyan exporters pay to fly commodities. The limited use of seafreight options heightens the cost gap. Kenya’s exports rely heavily on air freight to meet freshness and time requirements, but underperforming hinterland transport to ports and airports increases logistical costs and results in frequent delays.
Machuki emphasized how these logistics constraints erode competitiveness, making it difficult for many smallholder farmers to participate fully in COMESA or African Union export markets, despite having land and technology to grow quality produce. For many Kenyan farmers, the missing link is infrastructure support that ensures fast, cool, and efficient transport from farm gate to final market.
Addressing these challenges requires coordinated efforts to improve rural road networks, expand cold storage infrastructure inland, optimize use of multimodal transportation including rail and sea, and streamline port and airport handling efficiencies. Doing so will enable smallholder farmers across Kenya to access lucrative export markets more reliably and profitably, contributing to rural livelihoods and national economic growth.
So to say, Kenya’s horticulture potential remains promising, but unlocking it demands urgent investment in logistics and infrastructure that safeguards the freshness, quality, and timely delivery of produce. Only then can Kenyan farmers compete fairly on the global stage, benefiting from their hard work and cultivating a sustainable agricultural export economy.