NExT Kenya: coaching Kenyan flower companies on FCM management

The Kenya Flower Council, in collaboration with the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK), Fresh Produce Consortium Kenya (FPC-Kenya), Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), and COLEACP’s Fit For Market SPS and NExT Kenya programmes have set up a series of regional training/sensitisation forums for all producers across the country, aiming at a common approach across the industry to help drastically reduce interceptions of false codling moth (FCM) on roses exported to Europe. Events were organised in Mount Kenya, Naivasha, Eldoret and Nariobi and reached out to 170 flower companies.

These events began in January 2020 with an awareness-raising event for company CEOs, followed by the development of an improved FCM management protocol for roses for technical staff and regional peer-to-peer learning sessions.

Currently, eight companies that have had repeated interceptions, located across the four regions mentioned above, are benefiting from in-situ coaching to enable them to correctly implement the FCM protocol developed earlier by the agronomists. At this stage, very encouraging feedback was shared by Mr. Johnston Mulary, Advocacy Officer for KFC, who reports that the two farms already visited are very satisfied with the coaching and already look forward to the follow-up visit expected in 3 months. In addition, the FCM management protocol for roses, shared by KFC with all its members, has been very well received as an on-farm training resource.