The Ministry of Agriculture has raised an urgent alarm regarding the escalating conflict in the Middle East, warning of a significant threat to Kenya’s multi-million-shilling export industry.

According to the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Mutahi Kagwe, the regional instability is already disrupting the flow of essential goods, particularly impacting the livestock sector.

He particularly focused on the food products that the country has been selling to Iran, saying that they have been impacted.

“Whereas there are some products that have already begun to be impacted; for example, we send to the Middle East about Ksh 300 million worth of meat and animal products every week, and that is something we have to be thinking about,” Kagwe said.

Kagwe further said that the government is closely monitoring the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), a critical distribution and mixing point for Kenyan tea destined for Middle Eastern markets.

Finding alternative markets

He noted that efforts are underway to find alternative markets for goats and meat products to replace those currently situated in conflict zones.

“However, we have also taken measures to ensure that we are looking elsewhere. For example, when it comes to the meat markets, there are also alternative markets that have risen as a result of the same situation,” Kagwe stated.

Despite the challenges, the government maintains that it is taking proactive steps to shield the economy from a wider crisis.

He said that the ministry has a team within the government, including representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to assess the situation and ensure the sector emerges from the crisis.

“The issue is what measures we can take to mitigate against these negative impacts in our economy and impacts particularly in our agricultural sector. We are confident that we can get out of it as well as we can,” Kagwe explained.

Regional conflict

Associated Press reported that the conflict has spread across the region, Israel has launched multiple attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Iranian-linked militia has responded by firing missiles into Israel.

Pro-Iran militias in Iraq have also launched attacks at U.S. bases in the country since the beginning of the conflict.

Early Tuesday, one of those militias, the 40th Brigade of the Popular Mobilisation Forces in the city of Kirkuk, was hit with an airstrike that killed at least five militants and wounded four others, according to officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to brief reporters.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the strikes. Since the war began, at least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials.