The countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) are collaborating to develop regionally harmonised standards and grades for agricultural products. Lack of them is considered a key constraint to trade in agricultural produce. Analysts believe adopting a common ground would boost trade on commodities such as dairy products and maize.
According to COMESA, dairy products including raw milk; pasteurised milk; Ultra Heat Treated (UHT) milk; yoghurt; butter; dairy ices and airy ice creams are targeted for common standards. Others included are sweetened condensed milk; dried whole milk and skimmed milk powder.
The effort is supported by COMESA under the Regional Agricultural Trade Expansion Support (RATES) program, a USAID funded COMESA initiative whose objective is to help create a conducive and predictable regional environment for agricultural trade working together with the COMESA Standards and Quality Assurance Programme (SQA).
National consultations on dairy and maize standards involving a cross-section of stake holders from the public and private sector have been held in twelve COMESA and EAC countries, namely, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mauritius, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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