Kenya wins UN, UK backing in airfreight battle against environmentalists

EFFORTS to protect Kenya' air freighted organic produce from European environmentalist attack has won support from the British government and the UN's International Trade Centre (ITC), reports Nairobi's Business Daily.

Kenya's organic farmers have been under attack because the UK's powerful Soil Association announced its intention to remove its valuable organic label because of the global warning contribution allegedly made by aviation.

The Geneva-based ITC, set up by the UN and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the UK's Department for International Development (DID) said they strongly oppose such a move.

"Organic certification has been hugely successful in reducing poverty for thousands of African farming families. A ban on air freighted products could be catastrophic for them, while making no contribution to climate change," said Alexander Kasterine, an ITC expert on trade and environment.

Said UK Trade Minister Gareth Thomas: "The only fair option is to ensure the prices of the goods we consume, including organic produce, cover the environmental costs wherever the goods are from. We also need a labelling system that tells consumers about how the product is reducing poverty."

More than 80 per cent of organic fruit and vegetables sold in the UK are imported from poor countries. Average carbon dioxide emissions per capita in these countries are less than 3 per cent of those of the average west European country.

Kenya is the second most important supplier of air freighted organic products to the UK market after the Dominican Republic, according to research commissioned by the ITC.

The Soil Association said it will make its decision on air freighted organic products in October.