The East African Community (EAC) gazetted the new EAS 2013 harmonized Staple Foods Standards on December 6, 2013.This was a critical step taken by the EAC, geared towards addressing one of the  the key  obstacles to formal structured trading systems that depend on consistency and standardization of products quality. Implementation of the approved standards commenced, in earnest,  throughout the EAC Partner States through collaborative efforts of the  respective National Standards Bureaus (NSBs) and the grain industry stakeholder  institutions.

In the course of implementation of the standards, a few challenges were encountered, prompting stakeholders to call for the review of the Standards. Subsequent consultations with stakeholders under the auspices of the EAC recommended, among others, that East African Grain Council (EAGC) should conduct a Gap Analysis Study on the implementation of the EAS 2013 as part of evidence gathering to support the call for review of the Standards. The Study also intended to provide informed recommendations on the next steps to address the issues raised by stakeholders and to facilitate the smooth adoption and implementation of grain standards and grades in the region. The study also provided an assessment of the capacity of grain laboratories to implement the Standards and the enforcement of the Standards in cross-border trade.

The Gap Analysis Study was conducted by EAGC with support from Sida and DFID-funded FoodTrade East and Southern Africa project in the first quarter of 2015, and was subsequently validated by stakeholders in the E AC Partner States at both domestic and regional level. During the Joint EAC/EAGC Regional Meeting ofStakeholders to consider the study report, that was held in August 2015 in Entebbe, Uganda, it was recommended, among others, that the EAC Secretariat should initiate the review of the EAS 2013. The recommendations from the Regional Meeting were endorsed for implementation by the Standards Management Committee and the East African Standards Committee of the EAC in October and December 2015 respectively.

Following the endorsement of the aforementioned Committees of the EAC, EAGC and EAC Secretariat initiated the review process for the Standards, with the intended objective of amending the EAS 2013 to better serve the needs of stakeholders.

During the public review of the Standards, a significant volume of feedback has been received in all 5 EAC Partner States. Therefore, a regional meeting to assess and consider the feedback has been organized and will be conducted at Nobleza Hotel, in Kigali  from 27th February to 3rdMarch 2017. The meeting will bring together technical experts and hands-on practitioners of the Standards– representing both public and private sectors – from all 5 EAC Partner States to consider the proposals received on the specific parameters of the Standards and adopt a common (harmonized) position on the Standards.