Civil society groups have challenged the government to step up the battle against unsafe and less nutritious foods in the local market, saying Kenyans deserve healthy produce as enshrined in the Constitution.
They said some harmful farm inputs were being sneaked into Kenya by unscrupulous traders, exposing farmers and consumers to health hazards.
Speaking at the end of the First National Agroecology Symposium at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies in Nairobi last week, the groups under the auspices of Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Kenya called for a crackdown on harmful inputs.
“The national government should uphold the right to safe and nutritious food as enshrined in the Constitution by banning all harmful agri-inputs that are finding their way into the country, yet they are banned in other parts of the world,” they said in a joint statement issued after the meeting.
The call came as fears abound that agrochemicals banned for use in farms in Europe could have found their way into Kenya, exposing consumers to health risks. Some of the chemicals include the glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup, which has been banned by several countries but is still being used in Kenya.
Recently, fake fertilisers were sold to farmers, exposing them to probable poor yields.
PELUM Kenya, in collaboration with other partners, hosted the symposium, under the theme ‘Advancing Agroecology for Climate Resilience and Food Sovereignty’.
In the call to action read by PELUM Kenya coordinator Rosinah Mbenya, they also urged the government to work with other African countries to deal with destructive technologies threatening food security.
“The government should collaborate with other African countries to discourage the use of harmful biotechnologies that threaten seed sovereignty, biodiversity, and cultural practices and instead promote agroecological practices,” they said.
Hundreds of participants, including representatives from government, academia, civil society organisations, farmers, researchers, private sector players, development partners, and consumers, attended the two-day event.
The meeting was held ahead of the planned launch of Kenya's national agroecology policy later this month. PELUM Kenya has been the leading voice in the push for the policy in the country.
With county governments playing a bigger role in agriculture after devolution, the participants called on the devolved units to lead in developing agroecology policies fit for their regions.
“The county governments should develop and implement agroecology policies tailored to each county, supporting a fair and inclusive transition and incorporate agroecological inputs within county agricultural subsidy programs to boost sustainable practices,” they said.
Agriculture Principal Secretary, Dr Paul Ronoh, opened the symposium by assuring farmers, agroecology enthusiasts and participants of the government’s readiness to work with all to enhance the safety and nutrition of the food in the country.
“Transforming our food systems is no longer optional, it is essential and a must. We must shift to models that are resilient to climate change, enhance food and nutrition security and address social inequalities and poverty all while preserving our natural resources and cultural heritage for current and future generations,” the PS said.
“The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development is committed to partnering with all stakeholders, including state and non-state actors, to implement the Call of Action that will emerge from this symposium. We believe that collective action is vital to achieving the ambitious goals set for agroecology in Kenya,” he said.
Participants encouraged closer working relations between all actors including farmers, researchers and policy-makers in the agro-ecology subsector.
Enersto Mendez, a professor of Agroecology at the University of Vermont in the US, stressed on the importance of participatory action research and transformative agriculture.
“Researchers need to collaborate and work with farmers with utmost humility and honesty so that they come up with research questions and participate as this will help in co-creating knowledge for farmers,” said Mendez.
Further, in the Call to Action, the civil society organisations called on development partners to redirect their funding to prioritise agroecology as a key strategy for transforming food systems while enhancing climate resilience for smallholder farmers, indigenous people, women and youth.
They also called for more involvement of women and youth in agroecology challenges counterpart organisations to lead in this.
“The civil society organisations should support gender-sensitive policies that enable women and youth to participate in agroecology by ensuring they have access to resources, training and leadership opportunities in agricultural systems,” they urged.
At the same time, they want recognition of agroecology to be recognised as a climate-resilient practice at the COP 29 set for Baku, Azerbaijan from next Monday.
Also, farmers were challenged to adopt agroecological practices for resilient and sustainable food systems and embrace soil health initiatives, indigenous seed sharing and biodiversity conservation.
