Imports Kenya

Instant tea is manufactured in the United States, Japan, Kenya, Chile, Sri Lanka, India, and China. Production and consumption in the United States is greater than in the rest of the world. World production capacity of instant teas depends on market demand but is in the range of 8,000 to 11,000 t/yr (3). The basic process for manufacture of instant tea as a soluble powder from dry tea leaf includes extraction, concentration, and drying. In practice, the process is considerably more compHcated because of the need to preserve the volatile aroma fraction, and produce a product which provides color yet is soluble in cold water, all of which are attributes important to iced tea products (88). 

After World War II, the production of pyrethrum in Japan fell markedly and declined to only 1,000 tons in terms of dried flowers in 1965. At present, pyrethrum is not cultivated in Japan and the main producers are Kenya, Tanzania, Tasmania, and China, with worldwide production in 2010 amounting to around 10,000 tons of dried flowers. Dried flowers are extracted and purified at pyrethrum-extracting factories on the spot, producing 25-50% pyrethrin extracts. While pyrethrum extracts have been replaced with various synthetic pyrethroids, they are still used in houses, food factories, gardens, and organic farms, all of which emphasize the importance of safety. Katsuda [1] reported that natural pyrethrins showed a low development of resistance by flies and mosquitoes compared with many synthetic pyrethroids, against which a high development of cross-resistance was observed. 

The competent authorities of India were successful in preventing diversions of such substances. Four large cases were uncovered in 2004. In three of the cases, one involving a shipment of 6 tons of ephedrine to Kenya and two further orders from a company in Indonesia, traffickers used falsified import documents. A further intended export of 4 tons of pseudoephedrine from India via the United States to Mexico was found to be a diversion attempt when investigations determined that 80 per cent of the customers claimed by the importer did not exist. All four shipments were stopped. 

The most economically important group of natural plant insecticides are the pyrethrins, a group of six closely related esters extracted from pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum clnerariaefollum) flower heads (Figure 1). Pyrethrum has been used as an insecticide since at least the early 1800 s in Persia and Yugoslavia. By 1828 pyrethrum was being processed for commercial Insect control, and by 1939 imports of pyrethrum into the United States reached a peak of 13.5 million pounds. Use of the natural product declined in the early 1950 s because of the advent of synthetic pyrethroid analogs (for example, allethrins), which were both more stable and more effective in the field. The present worldwide demand for pyrethrum flowers remains in excess of 25,000 tons annually and is satisfied by the estimated 150 million flowers still hand-harvested daily, predominantly in natural stands and cultivated fields in Kenya, Tanzania, and Ecuador (9 ). 

Chrispus, O. A. and Oduori, C. O. A. (2005). The importance and research status of finger millet in Africa presented at The McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program Workshop on Tef and Finger Millet Comparative Genomics of the Chloridoid Cereals atthe Biosciences for East and Central Africa (BECA) ILRI, Nairobi, Kenya, 28-30, June 2005. 

Currently pest control by natural plant extracts is practiced primarily by subsistence farmers in those less developed part of the world where it is still an economic necessity.(ref. 3). Of the approximately 2000 plant species with known insecticidal properties (ref. 4), few have been developed commercially. These include the pyrethrins, rotenones and some of the alkaloids. Pyrethrins were the most important natural plant extracts in the early commercial insecticide formulations and were already in use in Persia and Yugoslavia during the early 1800s. By 1939 pyrethrum imports to the United States were 13-5 million lbs, declining from this peak as the synthetic analogs (e.g., the allethrins) appeared on the market. The addition of stabilizers (antioxidants) and synergists to the original pyrethrum formulations saved the natural product from commercial extinction. Currently the demand for pyrethrum flowers is still over 25,000 tons per annum—met by hand-harvested crops from Ecuador, Kenya and Tanzania (ref. 5) ... 

Similarly pure beds of kerolite and sepiolite are found in the modern and Pleistocene groundwater wetlands of Amboseli, Kenya (Stoessell and Hay, 1978 Hay and Stoessell, 1984 Hay et al, 1995). The concentration of dissolved silica is also important at higher ratios of Si02 to Mg, chain-structure clay (sepiolite-palygorskite) can precipitate directly from solution, as is also the case at Amargosa. 

Manufacture. Sodium carbonate is an important product of the alkali industry. It is obtained naturally by the purification of sal soda which is found in the water of lakes Magadi of Kenya in East Africa, Owens of California in the USA etc. Industrially it is obtained by the Solvay process (ammonia-soda process) sodium chloride solution is saturated by ammonia which is forced into the solution. Carbon dioxide gas is then blown into the solution to form the bicarbonate (NaHCO 3) and ammonium chloride (NH<,.C1). When the bicarbonate is separated and heated, water and carbon dioxide are driven off and sodium carbonate is obtained. The ammonium chloride is mixed with milk of lime and distilled to form calcium chloride and ammonia solution. The recovered ammonia is used repeatedly. 

Tamarind or Tamarindus indica L. of the Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae, is an important food in the tropics. It is a multipurpose tree of which almost every part finds at least some use 17), either nutritional or medicinal. Tamarind is indigenous to tropical Africa but it has been introduced and naturahzed worldwide in over 50 coimtries. The major production areas ate in the Asian coimtries India and Thailand, but also in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. In America, Mexico and Costa Rica are the biggest producers. Africa on the whole does not produce tamarind on a cotmnercial scale, though it is widely used by the local people. Minor producing countries in Africa ate Senegal, Gambia, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia (5, 17). 

Despite these important discoveries, African Amaryllidaceae remains untapped specially in the southern African region. Few species have been investigated for their biological activity mostly in Sonth Africa and Egypt and to a lesser extend in Kenya and Nigeria. Information from other parts of the continent are sparse or lacking. 

Matricaria chamomilla L. (Chamomile) The oil (1.2%) from the semi-dried flowers of M. chamomilla contained mainly bisabolools and chamazulenes (33). Recently, chamomile tea has gained popularity in Kenya as people turn more to the use of natural products. The total extract is used to make an imported powder which is used for soothing baby gums when they are teething. 

Eucalyptus citriodora Hook f (Lemon gum) The oil of the fresh leaves of E. citriodora (2.2-8.3%), a tree introduced into Kenya from Australia (68), has been well researched in Kenya. Results indicate that there are two chemical varieties that were introduced. The chief essential oil constituents of one variety are citronellal (65-88%), citronellol (2-25%) and isopulegol (2-19%). In constrast, the second variety has as its major essential oil consitutents citronellol (32-52%), citronellal (38-59%) and 1,8-cineole (2-19%) (68,69). The essential oil is regarded as a perfumery oil. This plant is the second most commercially important Eucalyptus species in the essential oil trade and is only second to E. smithii Baker (69). The aromatic oil is used in soaps, creams and lotions due to its desirable odor properties, and as with many other essential oils is also used extensively in many technical preparations to mask other industrial malodors. A highly active mosquito repellent compound, p-menthane 3,8-diol has been isolated from the waste water of distillation of E. citriodora. There are now many commercial mosquito repellents based on this waste water (70-73). 

Plectranthus marrubioides Kenya imports all the camphor used in the local industry. The camphor content in the essential oil of P. marrubioides would be a good source for use in the pharmacentical industry, especially for preparatiorrs such as local anesthetics, remedies for rheirmatic and mnscular pairts and for respiratory conditions. These potential nses justify cultivation of this plant on a commercial scale. The plant is easily propagated from cnttings. It can withstand adverse weather conditions and can also co-exist with other plants as an rmdergrowth in forests (66). 

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