National Phytosanitary Policy.

This National Phytosanitary Policy provides for creating an enabling environment for plant health in agricultural production and for ensuring safe trade in plants and plant products, through effective mechanisms for prevention of introduction, spread and establishment of foreign injurious pests and noxious weeds, and a phytosanitary assurance system for plants and plant products exported from Kenya in compliance with international market requirements. The Policy identifies issues that hinder the development of an efficient and effective plant health system and provides guidance for the revision of the existing legal framework, and the strengthening of import regulatory and export certification systems. Further matters covered by this Policy include: strengthening pest risk analysis, pest diagnostic systems, surveillance and pest reporting, early warning, and rapid response systems; enhancement of quarantine, pest management, phytosanitary research. The Policy defines the following relevant terms: international standards for phytosanitary measures; pest risk analysis; phytosanitary certification; plant products inspection; quarantine.
The Policy is structured as follows: 1) Introduction; 2) Phytosanitary System analysis, including: pest diagnosis and identification, pest risk analysis, border control and management, surveillance and pest reporting, early warning and response, quarantine mechanism and containment measures for plant pests, registration of pesticides and biological control agents, phytosanitary and organic certification mechanism; 3) facilitation of trade in plants and plant products; 4) Policy, legal and institutional framework; 5) phytosanitary capacity in Kenya; 6) cross cutting and emerging issues, including: phytosanitary research and knowledge management, information communication technology in phytosanitary system, climate change effects on plant health, effects of phytosanitary measures on biodiversity, external shocks; 7) Policy implementation measures.