* Kenya should not allow itself to be pressured into signing
* EPA trade deals divide Africa further
* Help small-scale farmers develop irrigation systems
By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura
NAIROBI, June 29 (Reuters) - Kenya should not allow Europe to use the issue of flower exports to arm-twist it into signing a new trade agreement, a campaigner said on Monday.
Kenya is the biggest exporter of cut flowers to the European Union. The proceeds -- nearly $1 billion last year -- are one of the top sources of hard currency earnings for east Africa's largest economy.
Kenya, and other poor countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP), have been asked to sign the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) to replace preferential trade arrangements made redundant by the World Trade Organisation.
"One of the strongest arguments used for pushing EPAs has been flower farms," said Eric Mgendi, ActionAid's communication coordinator for Africa.
ACP countries had until the end of 2007 to sign EPAs, or risk having European trade interrupted. Negotiating as a bloc, the five-member East African Community to which Kenya belongs, struck an interim pact to protect the export-based economies.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said in March that a final deal would be concluded in July.
The partnership agreement offers EAC exports, except for rice and sugar, duty- and quota-free access to European markets in return for more open entry of European goods and services.
FLOWERS JUST BAIT
But Mgendi said Kenya does not have to sign a deal because of the threat its horticulture exports will be disrupted.
"They are just using that as a bait. If the EU wants flowers, whether we have signed the agreement or not, they will come and buy the flowers," he said.
Kenya's horticulture exports, which also include vegetable and fruit sales, raked in 73.7 billion shillings, or about $923.5 million, in 2008, up from 57.2 billion shillings in 2007.
Kenyan flowers are much cheaper to produce than in Europe but some consumers have been reluctant to buy produce flown from other parts of the globe because of concerns about global warming.
"Kenya should not have been cowed into ratifying. The government's own research ... says, in terms of weighing the cost benefit analysis of EPAs, we are going to lose more."
The ACP represents some 300 million people and includes some of the world's least developed nations. They have struggled to maintain a united front in the face of pressure from Brussels.
"The biggest disadvantage of signing EPAs is that it disintegrates us with other African countries further because they divided us into blocs and each bloc is being given a concession," Mgendi said.
Mgendi said Kenya should instead focus on improving irrigation and small scale horticultural production. Some 70 percent of exports are by big scale producers, Mgendi said. In the 1970s, only about a third were from large-scale growers.
"If you want to reduce poverty, you have to support small scale farmers to participate and benefit from that kind or trade, not just a few individuals. That will promote equity." (Editing by David Clarke)