A virtual coordination meeting between the ICC Secretariat and the Nuts and Oil Crops Directorate, Agriculture and Food Authority, Government of Kenya, was convened on 3rd February 2022. This is part of the activities of ICC in Dialogue and Communications with National Liaison Officers (NLOs) of the ICC Member Countries.
The meeting was attended by Madam Rosemary Owino, Acting Director, Nuts and Oil Crops Directorate Agriculture and Food Authority, the NLO of ICC for the government of Kenya, along with Ms. Lily Chebet Kiptoo, Deputy Director, Technical and Advisory Services and Mr. Innocent Masira, Market Development Officer. The ICC Secretariat team was led by Dr. Jelfina C. Alouw, Executive Director, with Ms. Mridula Kottekate, Assistant Director; Mr. Klaudio Hosang, Administrative and Financial Officer; and Mr. Otniel Sintoro, Information and Publication Officer.
In her welcome remarks, Dr. Jelfina congratulated Madam Rosemary on her new task as the Acting Director of the Nuts and Oil Crops Directorate, Government of Kenya, and extended her sincere appreciation to Dr. Florence Kaibi the former NLO, and Ms. Lilly Chebet for her excellent support to ICC. She expressed that ICC has been so blessed with the involvement of Kenya in this community and looking forward to strengthening the relationship for the benefit of coconut farmers, industries, and other stakeholders as well as the country. Dr. Jelfina presented the Global Scenario of Coconut Sector, wherein she described the present status of the coconut sector, coconut market and production, country status, challenges, global export trend value and industries, outlook 2020-2025, ways forward and ICC programs and projects.
In her remarks, Madam Rosemary Owino, Acting Director of the Nuts and Oil Crops Directorate, Government of Kenya, appreciated the collaboration over the year with ICC programs where Kenya as a member country and benefitted optimally. She added there are many more to explore in the future as a part of the Community, especially to increase the production, productivity and value addition of the coconut sector. She is looking forward to meeting physically during the upcoming 50th International COCOTECH Conference at Kuala Lumpur, in October 2022.
Ms. Lily Chebet shared the latest development in the coconut sector in Kenya. Kenya has imported 12.000 coconut seeds from India for the hybridization and tissue culture program. Several SMEs also have come up a lot with production of VCO, and Kenya is looking forward to increasing more processing and value addition of coconut for which ICC’s support and the collaboration gain its relevant context. She appreciated the international training course conducted by ICC-CRI in which two of the officers of Kenya trained and their service is well utilized at field level.
Mr. Innocent Masira, who participated in the Statistics workshop organized by ICC last year mentioned that this meeting was very enlightening and encouraging. He looks forward to the upcoming ICC capacity building and technology transfer trainings in 2022. He was delighted to be part of the meeting and hopes to continue working together to improve the coconut industry in Kenya.
The meeting was very productive and fruitful. Ms. Mridula Kottekate, Assistant Director, moderated the meeting.