The Association has yet again achieved other two milestones and these two, on the same day! The good news is that after what seemed like a long wait, AEA signed to membership of Horticultural Crops Directorate(HCD), a Directorate under the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) whose mandate is to oversee the Regulation, Development and Promotion of the Horticultural crops sector, through the provisions of the AFA Act (Act No. 13 of 2013), Crops Act (Act 16 of 2013)and other relevant laws and regulations. HCD is one of the eight Directorates under the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA).
It is now a requirement for all Horticulture producers to belong to an Association recognized by HCDA to be given an export licence.
In a meeting attended by outgoing AEA Chairman, Mr. Tom Ochieng and AEA CEO, Mr. Wesley Siele early morning of Friday 16th July 2021 at AFA Headquarters in Nairobi, Mr. Wilfred Yako, Assistant Director, Regulations and Compliance with his colleague Ms. Josephine Simiyu the Manager in charge of Regulations and Compliance assured the team of their support to ensure all members are compliant and no company under AEA membership will be denied certification since all the required information will be provided and consultation will be as often as need be to ensure they are compliant.
CORE FUNCTIONS OF HCD
- a) Advice the Government and the industry on matters related to horticulture production and marketing.
- b) Collect and collate data, maintain a database and disseminate information on horticultural activities for planning purposes.
- c) Provide specialized horticulture advisory services.
- d) Regulate the horticulture nurseries, production, post-harvest handling and marketing of horticultural crops and produce.
- e) Promote development and adoption of standards for labeling, packaging, grading, transporting and storing horticultural produce in compliance with local and international standards
- f) Promote the establishment and use of production, processing and marketing infrastructure for horticultural crops.
- g) Facilitate marketing of horticultural products in the local and international markets.
For this reason, AEA will be the liaison contact with the Authority on behalf of all its members and communication from the HCDA to all AEA producers will always be through the Association. Members can now rest assured that by virtue of belonging to AEA is one way of being compliant and the Association will always endeavor to advise, update and guide them accordingly.
SIGNING OF HORTICULTURE, FLORICULTURE & BOTANICAL GROUP CBA
Horticulture, Floriculture & Botanical (HFB) Group CBA formerly known as the Flower Growers Group (FGG) CBA has been signed.
In a signing ceremony held in Kajiado, the Joint Negotiation Committee led by their Chairman Mr. Tom Ochieng joined their social partners Kenya Plantations and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU) to witness the occurrence.
The 2021/2023 CBA was successfully negotiated in record time of 2 days achieving a single digit on the wages. It took the team unwavering selfless dedication to see the process was not only completed, but a milestone was achieved in favor of both the employer and the employees.
This will be remembered as the first CBA to ever be signed almost two months before the implementation dates. This will mean ample time to employers to prepare and plan well ahead and reducing cost of paying employees a lot of accumulated arrears. We also thank the Union for close cooperation that culminated in finalizing of the Horticulture, Floriculture & Botanical (HFB) Group CBA.