Kenyan poultry farmers claim that an influx of cheaper Ugandan poultry exports is distorting the market and taking business away from local, Kenyan farmers.
In a letter to the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock, the farmers accuse Ugandan poultry exporters of dumping and call for a total ban of the products in Kenya.
“If we ban Ugandan chicken, our farmers will be able to sell more locally and get paid more,” according to the letter. “As it is, our farmers are not making a profit because of dumped chicken coming from Uganda.”
According to the World Trade Organization, dumping is “where the price of a product when sold in the importing country is less than the price of that product in the market of the exporting country.”
Ugandan exporters have denied the allegations. Rahim Manji, the managing director of Yo-Kuku, a leading exporter of chicken to Kenya, also denies the accusation citing that Yo-Kuku sources most of its poultry inputs from Kenya. Dumping would also not be profitable due to the current rate of inflation and the cost of poultry production increasing by 40%, according to Manji.
Another concern is that Kenya’s 32 million chicken population would not be enough to feed consumers if exports were banned.
In response to the farmers’ letter and threats of protest from Ugandan exporters, acting commissioner for the Kenyan Ministry of Trade and Cooperatives Emmanuel Mutahunga said that “the Kenyan government has not pronounced itself on this issue, and we are dealing with it at a policy level for the better of everyone in the region.”
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Uganda’s exports to Kenya were worth $401 million in 2020 with the main products being tea, milk and corn. Poultry only makes up 0.77% of exports with a value of $1.15 million.
