DAR ES SALAAM: A CRATE of fresh vegetables or flowers may begin its journey on a farm in one corner of Eastern Africa, but getting it to a buyer in another country or on the global market involves a chain far more complicated than planting, harvesting and packing. Behind every shipment are roads and border posts, cold rooms and warehouses, customs systems, quality standards, digital platforms, cargo operators and, increasingly, questions about climate resilience and the environmental cost of moving produce across long distances. When one link in that chain is weak, the consequences travel back to the farm. Produce can lose value, exporters can face higher costs and smallholder farmers can find themselves further removed from the lucrative markets their crops were intended to reach. It is against this background that horticulture stakeholders from across Eastern Africa are attempting to reshape the way the region produces, moves and trades its horticultural products, with a new regional platform seeking to replace fragmented national efforts with a more coordinated approach.
At the centre of that ambition is the Horticulture Council of Eastern Africa (HoCEA), whose chairperson, Dr Jacqueline Mkindi, says the region has reached a point where its horticulture industry needs a collective voice to deal with challenges that do not stop at national borders. Speaking at the Regional Public-Private Dialogue on Horticultural Trade and the official launch of HoCEA in Nairobi, Dr Mkindi said the council was created to strengthen private-sector coordination and develop a common agenda for horticultural trade, inclusive growth and competitiveness. 'Our national platforms bring considerable expertise; HoCEA gives us the collective voice to address challenges that cross our borders,' she said.
The council brings together horticulture associations from nine Eastern African countries under the theme 'Nine Countries. One Region. One Vision.' Its emergence reflects a growing recognition among governments, businesses and development partners that regional competitiveness cannot depend only on what happens within individual countries. For Dr Mkindi, the objective is to move beyond conversations and develop practical action capable of transforming Eastern Africa into an integrated production, processing and trading ecosystem. Farmers, she said, need to be placed at the centre of that transformation by improving their access to markets, finance, technology, knowledge and opportunities to add value to their products.
The regional agenda also includes strengthening cross-border trade, developing a common voice on standards and policy negotiations, and attracting both international and domestic investment into horticulture. The vision is being shaped by challenges that have become increasingly difficult for individual businesses and countries to address alone. Representing the Principal Secretary of Kenya’s State Department for Trade, the Deputy Director for Internal Trade, Mr Matthew Komen, said horticultural trade was affected by issues requiring cooperation beyond national boundaries. 'These challenges cannot be resolved by any single country or firm acting alone. They demand coordinated public-private action at the regional level,' he said.
Kenya’s experience provides an indication of the economic importance of horticulture to the region. Government figures presented at the launch showed that the country exports approximately 467,000 metric tonnes of horticultural produce annually, valued at about 1.143 billion US dollars. But increasing production and exports alone are not enough. The government called for investment in the systems that carry produce from farms to markets, including expansion of cold-storage capacity along the Northern Corridor and at Inland Container Depots. It also identified single-window systems, electronic cargo tracking and greater use of Authorised Economic Operator programmes as areas that can improve the movement of horticultural products.
Trade agreements, including the EU-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement, UK-Kenya EPA, UAE CETA and the African Continental Free Trade Area, were also identified as instruments that need to be translated into practical export opportunities. Mr Komen said the region also needed to retain more value from horticultural production through processing, packaging and branding rather than relying mainly on exports of raw commodities. That challenge extends beyond Kenya. For Eastern Africa, the journey from farm to international buyer is increasingly being shaped by the efficiency of the entire value chain.
Director of Business Competitiveness at TradeMark Africa, Ms Anataria Uwamariya, pointed to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rising logistics costs as events that exposed vulnerabilities in regional and global supply chains. She said the sector needed greater attention to logistics efficiency, climate-smart and resilient supply chains, digital trade and integration of horticulture into the AfCFTA framework. The message was echoed by development partners who stressed that regional cooperation should result in measurable changes for farmers and exporters.
Programme Manager at the Royal Danish Embassy, Mr Edwin Chachi, said green logistics, efficient cold chains and environmental considerations needed to be incorporated into commercial strategies from the beginning. He also called on HoCEA to establish concrete and time-bound priorities and ensure that its work produces measurable results. For the European Union, the focus is similarly on the entire value chain. The Connectivity Team and Investment Officer at the EU Delegation to Kenya, Mr Rodrigo Romero Van Cutsem, pointed to cold chains, warehousing, sanitary and phytosanitary compliance, quality infrastructure and the potential transition from air to sea freight where commercially viable.
He described the Northern Corridor as a critical trade artery linking Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda to global markets. The Netherlands, with its long-standing expertise in horticulture, logistics and greenports, also sees an opportunity to support Eastern Africa’s ambitions. Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Kenya, Henk Jan Bakker, pointed to the complementarity between the region’s horticultural production capacity and Dutch expertise in logistics and greenports. He also referred to the EU-Netherlands co-financed FRESH programme, which supports cold-chain infrastructure, digital corridors and sustainable transport along the Northern Corridor.
While infrastructure and logistics form an important part of the conversation, the regional council is also looking at who benefits from the growth of horticulture. Smallholders, women and young people are among the groups identified as needing stronger connections to markets and value chains. Together, the priorities point to a change in thinking, from treating trade barriers, logistics problems and market access as separate issues to looking at the entire journey of horticultural produce from production to the final buyer.
For Tanzania, the regional conversation comes with an additional opportunity. As Eastern Africa seeks to invite more international buyers and investors into its horticulture sector, Arusha is preparing to host HortiLogistica Africa from November 8 to 10, 2026. The international horticulture trade and investment platform, organised by the Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA) in partnership with the government of Tanzania, is expected to bring producers, businesses, buyers and investors together.
For Dr Mkindi, the significance of the Arusha platform goes beyond another industry gathering, and said the region had spent years travelling around the world in search of markets, technology, knowledge and investment and that the time had come to invite the world to Africa. The message translates into a broader ambition: instead of African producers constantly travelling outward to find opportunities, global buyers and investors should increasingly be brought into Africa to see its production capacity, products and investment opportunities.
Dr Mkindi urged stakeholders across the region to attend HortiLogistica Africa, exhibit their products, meet international buyers and investors and develop commercial partnerships. For Tanzania, the event offers an opportunity to place Arusha within the wider regional horticulture conversation while giving Eastern African producers another platform through which to connect with international markets.
But the Nairobi dialogue is making clear that exhibitions alone cannot transform the sector. For HoCEA, this is intended to mark the beginning of sustained regional engagement rather than the conclusion of a launch event. The broader ambition is a horticulture industry in which farmers can produce for profitable markets, businesses can move goods more efficiently across borders, investors can identify opportunities and the region can retain a greater share of the value generated from its agricultural resources.
Also read: Stakeholders chart new path for Eastern Africa horticulture. Eastern Africa already has the producers, businesses and markets. What the new regional platform is attempting to build is the connective tissue that allows those parts to work together. And as the region prepares for the next conversation in Arusha, the message from Nairobi is increasingly clear, the future of Eastern Africa’s horticulture trade may depend not only on what each country can produce, but on what the region can achieve together.
The Horticulture Council of Eastern Africa (HoCEA) represents a pivotal step toward regional integration, addressing systemic challenges that have long hindered the sector’s potential. By fostering collaboration among nine nations, the initiative aims to create a unified horticultural ecosystem that prioritizes sustainability, efficiency and equitable growth. As the region moves forward, the success of HoCEA will hinge on its ability to translate ambitious goals into tangible outcomes for farmers, businesses and investors alike.
The upcoming HortiLogistica Africa event in Arusha underscores the region’s commitment to attracting global attention and investment. With its strategic focus on innovation, market access and value addition, the platform positions Eastern Africa as a dynamic player in the global horticulture landscape. The coming years will test whether the region can harness its collective strengths to transform horticulture into a cornerstone of economic resilience and prosperity.