At the Busia border post between Uganda and Kenya, agricultural inspectors oversee the movement of food products, seeds, plant materials and agrochemicals, balancing phytosanitary requirements with the need to facilitate regional trade. In this podcast episode of The Battle for African Agriculture, produced by the Alliance for Food in Africa, Daniel Mukiibi, a senior agricultural inspector with Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, discusses the practical challenges of cross-border agricultural trade with host Million Belay. Drawing on around 10 years of inspection experience, including at the airport and the Malaba and Busia border posts, he explains how consignments are checked and certified.

The conversation explores how border inspections address plant pests and diseases, compliance with import permits and requirements for genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Mukiibi explains that inspectors rely primarily on documentation and government declarations to verify whether seeds have been produced through conventional breeding, as testing facilities for GMOs are not currently available at the border. He also describes the registration and import-permit requirements for agrochemicals, while acknowledging the challenges posed by smuggling, counterfeit products and unregistered substances.