The European Union (EU) has declared that it is committed to guiding Africa to raise sustainable food standards at a meeting held between the EU and the African Union (AU) Head of States.
In achieving this set target, the EU is using the partnership between the African Heads of States to encourage African states to adopt the environmental policies in its Green Deal.
However, African farmers fear that requirements to engage in trading with the European countries could serve as a significant trade hurdle between the two parties.
At the meeting, the Director for International Trade at the Commission’s agricultural service (DG AGRI), John Clarke said, “We do not, cannot and will not wish to impose our system on any other country in the world.”
“We are unashamedly raising our standards. If that creates difficulties for Africa exporters, we are there with our development support to ensure that African farmers and the companies that are producing for the European market can meet those demands,” he reassured.
On the part of the farmers, David Ndegwa, a Kenyan farmer who spoke at the same event said, “Although the EU is not directly imposing standards on African growers, the request for higher environmental and sustainable standards to sell products in the European single market indirectly leads to a request for compliance.”
In furtherance to his speech, he added, “The EU can grow even vegetables, especially horticultural crops in restricted areas, while in Africa, where crops are grown in open fields, pests and diseases cannot be controlled in any other way apart from chemical intervention.”
In addition, Mr. Ndegwa mentioned that the goal set by the EU to slash the use and risk of pesticides in Europe by 2030 could have repercussions on African farmers exporting their produce to Europe.
The President of the World Farmers’ Organization, Theo de Jager mentioned “What we wish for in the EU-AU partnership is for more farmer-to-farmer engagement, in the sense of technology transfer and knowledge transfer.
“What we wish for in the EU-AU partnership is for more farmer-to-farmer engagement, in the sense of technology transfer and knowledge transfer.”
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