Introduction

Development and application of Grades and Standards (G & S) is becoming a critical component of regional and international agreements, making their harmonization important to enhance regional, continental (AfCFTA) and international trade in agriculture commodities including livestock and livestock products.

Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Center for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD) supported the development of harmonized G & S of live animals, meat, and hides & skins between Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda with financial support from Regional Pastoral Livelihoods Resilience Project (RPLRP) funded by the World Bank. The aim was to improve market access and trade for pastoral and agro-pastoral communities at regional and international markets for livestock and livestock products.

The main objective of the July 28, 2021 virtual meeting was to create awareness on the existing harmonized G & S on live animals, meat, and hides & skins standards as well as promote  available standards on animal welfare, animal feed, leather and leather products, and animal by-products. The meeting was organized in collaboration with and support of FAO/SFE.

Welcome remarks were made by Dr. Ameha Sebsibe on behalf of ICPALD Director, while Dr. Ricarda Mondry made remarks on behalf of FAOSFE Representative. Dr. Esther Ngari, opened the meeting officially on behalf of the Director of Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS). The participants were from Bureau of Standards, Ministry of Trade; Ministry of Livestock and private sector representatives from each Member State (MS), and partners such as ARSO, FAO/SFE, OIE and AU-IBAR. The participants received and discussed presentations from MS and partners, focusing on progress made on promotion of standards, key challenges hampering adoption and promotion, and on how to enhance implementation of the standards. Finally, the participants appreciated the IGAD/ICPALD initiated regional platform on promotion and hope it shall be sustained. The following recommendations were agreed for follow up actions by MS and partners.

Recommendations

1. MS through their technical committees should actively participate in the review of comments and revised texts from the OIE once available online, to ensure inclusion of national comments in any standard being developed or revised.
2. MS that are not members of ARSO such as Somalia should accelerate their membership process in order to benefit from capacity development activities offered.
3. MS (regulatory authorities and private sector) in need of harmonized standards developed by ARSO can make formal request to get them.
4. MS should strengthen and legally empower Industry/Sector Associations to offer effective self/co-regulation through national workshops as well as trainings.
5. MS should promote common certification schemes to lower the cost of implementing available standards.
6. MS should work closely with the private sector in the development or review of any standards, be it from OIE, ARSO or national to accommodate private sector views in order to promote uptake and compliance.
7. MS (regulatory authorities) should disseminate and create awareness about the developed standards in simplified materials to mainstream stakeholders along the value chains by use of pictures, local languages, local FM TVs/ radios, social media platforms etc.
8. IGAD, ARSO, AU-IBAR, FAO and other partners should support capacity building activities at regional levels including cross border meetings and benchmarking missions for South to South cross learning endeavors.
9. MS should allocate funds to development of standards as well as dissemination.
10. IGAD, ARSO and other development partners should fast track harmonization of key standards in the livestock sector to promote market access in the continent and beyond.
11.  MS and development partners should undertake joint resource mobilization to support harmonization and dissemination of developed, reviewed or harmonized standards.
12. Somalia, Djibouti and South Sudan are relatively behind other countries in the development and use of standards and should be given special support to develop standards and promote them.
13. ARSO should undertake studies to know the level of implementation and impact of developed standards in MS.
14. IGAD in collaboration with MS and partners to sustain similar regional platform on promotion of standards.