The World Bank’s private sector arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Monday partnered with Twiga foods to implement global food safety standards in Kenya.
Jumoke Jagun-Dokunmu, regional director for eastern Africa at IFC told a media briefing in Nairobi that both organizations will invest a total of 25 million shillings (250,000 U.S. dollars) to ensure traceability of produce from the farm to consumers.
“The initiative marks a rare move to apply global quality certification to food products destined for the domestic, rather than export markets,” Jagun-Dokunmu said.
The agreement adds to a 10 million dollars investment in Twiga Foods made in November 2018 led by IFC, the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) and TLcom, a Pan African venture capital firm.
Jagun-Dokunmu said that the food safety project will initially work with 30 pilot farms across 20 counties to achieve worldwide standards for safe and sustainable agriculture by the end of next year.
She added that IFC is keen to ensure that all income segments in Kenya have access to safe food. She noted that no region can achieve food security without food safety.
According to IFC, sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest incidences of per capita food borne illness in the world.
Peter Njonjo, CEO of Twiga Foods said that his company should attain a 100 percent product traceability and global good agricultural practices compliance from its contracted suppliers by March 2021.
