Farmers’ rights or corporate interests? A plea to amend the Seed and Plant Varieties Act

By Elizabeth Atieno

Imagine the peasant farmer back in your village; the cabbage farmer in Kinangop; the sorghum farmer in Lambwe Valley; or perhaps your grandmother tending to her cassava and traditional vegetables whose name you only know of in your mother tongue. For decades, they have grown these crops using natural methods, harvested them, culturally preserved the seeds, and shared them ahead of the next rains.

Every planting season, these village farmers typically exchange their seeds to enhance variety at the farms and eventually on their families’ plates. Many of these indigenous seeds have evolved to thrive in local climatic conditions, including water scarcity regions. Their natural resilience makes them invaluable, ensuring that communities have access to nutritious food even when water resources are limited. 

Now, picture their anguish as they face the threat of imprisonment or financial penalties for sharing these seeds that have sustained their communities for centuries, only because of a new law that says such an exchange is henceforth illegal.

The Seed and Plant Varieties Act Cap 326 is meant to regulate seed usage. Scandalously, it carries sections that threaten to imprison smallholder farmers for sharing, selling, or exchanging indigenous seeds.

If implemented, this law could have devastating consequences on the already dwindling food production systems and shrinking diet options in the country, especially in the Arid and Semi-Arid areas (ASALs). Restricting seed sharing undermines diversity and gives an unfair advantage to large-scale corporate farmers whose products are primarily for profit and not nutrition, and whose farming practices are decidedly harmful to an already sick environment we are fighting to save. Additionally, the act will encourage dependency on commercial seed merchants and increase the cost of farming for already financially challenged communities.

This year, the World Food Day that is celebrated every October 16, was marked with the theme, “Water is Life, Water is Food. Leave no one behind”. This has happened at a time when we are seeking solutions for resilient agriculture in the face of the global climate crisis. Indigenous seeds typically require less water to flourish, even in water-stressed conditions. One way to address water scarcity issues is by harnessing the power of indigenous seeds to ensure no community is left behind in the fight against hunger and malnutrition.

However, the Seed and Plant Varieties Act Cap 326, which regulates seed usage, carries sections that, unfortunately, threaten to imprison smallholder farmers for sharing, selling, or exchanging indigenous seeds. Section 10 sub-section 4 of this act prohibits smallholder farmers in Kenya from exchanging indigenous seeds with other farmers, an age-old practice. To make it worse, if farmers violate this punitive statute, they risk a prison sentence of up to two years or a fine of up to Ksh1 million (nearly $7,000 at current exchange rates). The consequences of this act are dire, posing a threat to food security and cultural heritage.

The 2023 World Food Day theme presents a perfect opportunity for the Kenyan government to recognise the urgent need to amend this act to protect our indigenous farmers and safeguard our food future.

Globally, informal seed-sharing systems account for as much as 90 percent of seeds used in seed production, while regulated seeds provide no more than 20 percent. This is especially true in Kenya, where informal seed sharing is the most practiced system among subsistence farmers, whose nutritious products we all love to see at the table.

Our local farmers also practise sustainable farming methods, which are friendlier to the environment. Indigenous seeds are also the best friends to water conservation. These seeds typically require less water to flourish even during failed rains, now a common occurrence thanks to climate change. Indigenous seeds also rejuvenate soils, unlike commercial crops that might deplete them.

This punitive law paints a picture of a government that seems to prioritise profit over the well-being of its people. The government should urgently stop the corporate capture of our seeds and recognise farmers’ rights to sell, preserve, share, and capitalise on indigenous seeds without fear of punitive repercussions. Every decision that places profit before its people erodes our values as a community. If the Kenyan government maintains restricted access to indigenous seeds, our republic will succumb to neocolonial corporations that seek to ensure the resilience of their profits instead of the resilience of our communities. The government must amend this legislation and help stop the corporate capture of our seeds. Only by doing so can we ensure that no one is left behind in our journey toward a food-secure nation.
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Elizabeth Atieno is a Food Security and Nutrition Campaigner with Greenpeace Africa