AGRA

It began with a handshake—deliberate, optimistic, and quietly historic. Inside Nairobi’s PrideInn Azure Hotel, a quiet but transformative shift in East African trade was taking root. Across rows of negotiation tables, Ethiopian exporters and Kenyan pulses buyers engaged in structured, face-to-face talks. By day’s end, contracts worth more than USD 12.8 million had been signed on June 18, 2025. What unfolded was not just a business transaction—but a demonstration of what it means to bridge borders through beans.

The high-level Stakeholders Validation Workshop and Business-to-Business (B2B) Forum, convened by the Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) and strategically supported by AGRA, aimed to advance regional pulses trade between Ethiopia and Kenya. But its deeper ambition was more profound: to connect smallholder producers with formal markets, shift fragmented trade toward structure and transparency, and build commercial trust between neighboring economies.

Kenya’s Ministry of Trade, represented by Deputy County Commissioner Benson Kagunda, opened the forum with a message that captured the spirit of the occasion.

What we are witnessing here today is not just trade—it is trust,‖ she said. ―Borderlines should no longer divide markets, but connect opportunity.‖ Her words set the tone for two days of focused exchange where business cards were exchanged as eagerly as ideas, and contracts signed not as symbolic gestures, but as actionable commitments.

The economic logic was clear. Kenya faces an annual shortfall of over 200,000 metric tons of pulses, driven by growing domestic demand. Ethiopia, on the other hand, boasts a surplus of beans, renowned for quality but constrained by access. Historically, trade between the two countries has been hindered by mismatched quality and packaging standards, transport inefficiencies, a lack of certified warehousing at key border points like Moyale, and Ethiopia’s non-membership in the East African Community (EAC). This forum sought to turn that friction into flow.

Beyond the negotiation tables, the forum offered a rare opportunity for deeper engagement. The Ethiopian delegation embarked on a field visit to two of Kenya’s leading agribusinesses—Unibrain and Echemiplus. There, they observed the full food processing chain in motion the opportunity gave Ethiopian exporters to see how the product they shipped converted to final product and off course to meet actual buyers of their products apart from traders they deal in a daily bases.. Standing inside a cool, meticulously organized facility, Hyder Kemal, board member of the Ethiopian Pulses,

Oilseeds and Spices Processors–Exporters Association (EPOSEA) remarked quietly,

This is what we need, meeting actual users of our products and discuss challenges face to face to increase exporting with confidence.‖

The exposure was catalytic. It allowed the Ethiopian team to see not only the demand for their products but the standards expected by modern, formal buyers. The visit fuelled a vision of what’s possible with the right investment, policy support, and institutional coordination. It turned abstract talk of regional trade into a tangible business imperative.

Still, constraints were not ignored. Ethiopian exporters largely operate with 100kg sacks, incompatible with Kenya’s market preferences of 50Kg. Trucking standards differ significantly. Border infrastructure remains insufficient. Informal trade routes persist. And a lack of policy harmonization continues to frustrate exporters ready to compete. Hyder Kemal further explained, ―Our exporters are not short on product—they are short on predictability. This forum gave us space to raise the right issues. Now it is time to act.‖

In that call to action, the theme of bridging borders through beans returned—not just as a slogan, but as a strategy. Participants collectively urged their respective governments to reduce non trade barriers; harmonies trade standards, invest in border infrastructure, and accelerate Ethiopia’s alignment with AfCFTA, COMESA, and EAC frameworks. They called for regional policies that recognise agricultural trade not merely as economic activity, but as a lever for inclusive growth.

For AGRA, the forum reaffirmed its catalytic role—not as a market participant, but as a connector, enabler, and amplifier of local enterprise. By bringing producers, buyers, and policymakers to the same table, AGRA helped transform pulses from a commodity of subsistence into a symbol of scalable, structured, and strategic trade.

In East Africa’s trade story, beans have become more than a staple crop. They have become a bridge between producers and processors, between policy and practice, between one border and the next.

And in that bridge lies the future of African trade.