Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua has supported the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between Kenya and the European Union to avert a looming crisis.
Speaking on Tuesday during a floriculture stakeholders’ forum in Nakuru, Mbugua said the flower industry supports more than half a million Kenyans directly. Kenya risks losing the tax free status in the European Union if the EPAs are not signed by October 1 this year.
More than 90,000 flower farm employees directly depend on the floriculture industry in Nakuru County.
Mbugua added that Lake Naivasha still accounts for 70 percent of Kenya’s flower exports with flower farms around the lake earning Kenya a total of Sh28 billion per year. This figure is about 10.7 percent of the country’s total foreign earnings.
“That is why as a county, signing the EPAs is very important to us. I urge the national government to speedily resolve the outstanding issues on the EPAs to evade imposition of significant EU import duties on Kenya’s floriculture exports,” the governor said.
Currently, Kenya is the lead exporter of cut rose flowers to the EU, with a market share of about 38 percent.
However, the landscape is likely to change if Kenya does not sign the economic partnerships by the October deadline. The forum was organised by the Kenya Flower Council in partnership with the EU and featured more than 50 stakeholders.