One region, one harvest: Horticulture Council for Eastern Africa chief urges a fully integrated region

NAIROBI, Kenya – The Horticulture Council for Eastern Africa (HoCEA) Secretary General Clement Tulezi is pushing for a resilient, globally competitive, and fully integrated horticultural ecosystem across Eastern Africa, urging that this be the council’s vision and strategic priorities.

Speaking in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, during the official launch of HoCEA, Secretary General Clement Tulezi said there is a dire need for the Eastern Africa region to move deliberately from potential to competitiveness.

“First, market access and trade facilitation. We must address non-tariff barriers, harmonise standards and SPS procedures, and make regional and continental trade easier. Second, logistics and infrastructure. We need efficient transport corridors, stronger cold chains, regional consolidation solutions, and commercially viable transitions towards sea freight where markets and products permit,” explained Tulezi.

Third, he observed that data, innovation, and technology are key, noting that Eastern Africa needs better market intelligence, interoperable digital systems, traceability and digital certification.

“Fourth, we must build inclusive value chains, connecting smallholders, women and young people to finance, technology and markets. And fifth, sustainability and resilience must become competitive advantages — not simply compliance obligations,” he further said.

What the launch of HoCEA means to the Eastern Africa region

The event, Tulezi, announced that it is more than the launch of an organisation. He indicated that it is the beginning of a new chapter for Eastern African horticulture.

“Across this region, we grow some of the world’s finest flowers, fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, seedlings and planting materials. Behind these products are millions of farmers, workers, exporters, entrepreneurs, women and young people whose livelihoods depend upon horticulture,” said Tulezi.

He told the audience that the region boasts extraordinary diversity.

“We have favourable climates. We have productive land. We have entrepreneurial people. And we occupy a strategic position connecting Africa to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the wider world. Yet our greatest opportunity may lie in something even more powerful: working together. That is the proposition behind HoCEA. Nine countries. One region. One vision,” he emphasised.

He also said HoCEA has a vision of an Eastern Africa where horticulture creates stronger communities, competitive businesses, sustainable production and shared prosperity.

According to Tulezi, the East African Community and AfCFTA give them important frameworks.

“But regional integration cannot exist only in agreements. It must be experienced by the business moving goods across a border. If a truck carrying vegetables remains unnecessarily delayed, integration has not reached that exporter. If certificates are unnecessarily duplicated, harmonisation remains incomplete. If an enterprise cannot use AfCFTA preferences, then AfCFTA remains an opportunity on paper rather than a commercial reality. HoCEA must help close that gap,” he explained.

Clement Tulezi states the vision and aspirations of HoCEA

Tulezi remarked that HoCEA must never become another institution measured by conferences, communiqués and meetings.

“Our success must be measured by barriers removed, markets opened, costs reduced, consignments protected, businesses supported and jobs created. That is why partnership is fundamental,” he said.

Tulezi also announced that HoCEA particularly recognises TradeMark Africa, adding that its support has helped move regional horticulture cooperation from conversation towards an organised platform.

“We equally recognise the development partners supporting regional trade, sustainability and economic integration, and we invite others to join this journey,” Tulezi said.

Tulezi indicated that at the center of the discussions, partnership must have purpose.

“Governments must implement commitments. Associations must provide credible industry evidence. Development partners must align interventions with industry priorities. And businesses must invest, innovate and generate the commercial volumes that make regional solutions viable,” he explained.

HoCEA seeks to have Eastern Africa recognised globally

He also emphasised that the immediate agenda for HoCEA is about delivery.

“We will establish a mechanism for identifying and escalating horticultural trade barriers. We will pursue fast-track arrangements for compliant perishable cargo. We will develop a regional logistics and cold-chain agenda. We will advance practical SPS harmonisation and digital certification. And we will develop an AfCFTA market-access programme that helps horticultural enterprises move from understanding the agreement to actually trading under it. Over time, our ambition is bigger,” remarked Tulezi.

Through HoCEA, Tulezi said they want Eastern Africa recognised globally not merely as nine horticulture-producing countries, but increasingly as one interconnected horticultural powerhouse.

“A region capable of producing efficiently, moving products competitively, meeting international standards, attracting investment and accessing markets together. Eastern Africa does not lack potential. What has been missing is a sufficiently coordinated regional private-sector voice capable of converting that potential into shared prosperity,” he observed.

Moving forward, Tulezi indicated that HoCEA should become the bridge between “our farms and markets, between national priorities and regional solutions, between government and business, and between the promise of African integration and its practical benefits.”

At the two-day event in Nairobi, Tulezi further noted that their message is simple:

“We must produce nationally. Connect regionally. And compete globally. Nine countries. One region. One vision. Stronger together for a prosperous Eastern Africa,” remarked Tulezi.

Inside HoCEA’s long journey to actualisation in Nairobi

HoCEA’s journey began in Arusha, Tanzania, in November 2024, when horticulture associations came together and confronted a fundamental question: Could Eastern Africa achieve more if its horticulture industry began thinking and acting as a region? The answer Tulezi says was yes. Arusha created the foundation.

In April 2025, in Entebbe, Uganda, they moved from aspiration towards strategy — developing the regional direction, governance thinking and priority areas necessary to transform an idea into an institution. What followed Tulezi revealed was consultation, expansion, engagement and institution-building.

And today, 22 September 2026, in Nairobi, Tulezi announced that they are moving from building the platform to launching it. “From Arusha to Entebbe to Nairobi, the principle has remained constant.”

He maintained that HoCEA does not replace the national horticulture associations. “HoCEA makes them stronger.”

“National associations will continue addressing national priorities. HoCEA will concentrate on the challenges and opportunities requiring cross-border coordination and collective action,” Tulezi further said.

The event was also attended by, among others, Henk Jan Bakker, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Kenya; Mathew Komen, Deputy Director, Secretary Administration, State Department for Trade, Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry; Dr. Jacqueline Mkindi, Chairperson of HoCEA;