Lifting GMO ban puts farmers at mercy of foreign firms

In October last year, Kenya’s Cabinet revised the moratorium on Genetically Modified crops and seeds, paving the way for the importation and production of GMO food and seeds.

The government defended the position as being necessitated by the pressure to achieve food security.

The communique from the government stated the Kenya is adopting emerging and new alternatives to farming that will ensure early maturity and more production of food to cushion millions of Kenyans from perennial famine.

However, this was a rushed decision and a threat to the farmer’s right to own seed. Farmers also have a right to choose which food to grow in the different micro-climatic zones. This is a discriminatory policy to small holder farmers who produce 80 per cent of the food grown in the country.

While alive to the current drought being experienced in many parts of the country, Seed Savers Network, an organization that campaigns for preservation of indigenous seeds, questiones the quickness with which President William Ruto administration lifted the ban on GMOs.

Critics of the government’s decision believe the move was the result of intense pressure from multi-national seed corporations who immediately applauded the lifting of the ban. 

Our work as a has shown us that Kenya can sustainably feed itself without the intervention of foreign organizations that have succeeded in promoting GM crops here.

The problem with our food chain at the moment is distribution. During this drought we have seen smallholder farmers in high production areas throw away food due to lack of markets; quite an unfortunate paradox. Our food insecurity is as a result of climate change and, therefore, we should look at agro-ecological ways of adapting to this.

The push to commercialize GMO seeds could be a short-term solution to the food insecurity being experienced in the country but in the long-term it will do more harm than good especially in the interest of protecting food diversity and sovereignty.

Lifting the GMO ban will decimate the indigenous crop varieties by promoting monoculture. This is an attack also to indigenous knowledge since the GMO seeds are usually regulated by patents and intellectual property rights exposing the smallholder farmers to a litany of expensive and unnecessary legal suits should they be found growing crop “similar” to the patented seeds.

Farmer’s access to diverse and ecologically adapted seeds should be protected. The government should ensure there are regulations to prevent exclusive rights on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture by the multi-national companies seeking to sell GMO seeds locally.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, farmer-managed seed systems provide the majority of food consumed at the household level. Smallholder farmers play a considerable role in keeping themselves and their communities food secure by growing, breeding, and fostering farmer varieties “underutilized varieties”. 

This in essence is preserving the country’s agricultural biodiversity. The lifting of the ban therefore means that at some point, soon, indigenous seed farmers will be forced to buy expensive seeds.

In the face of a rapidly worsening climate crisis, smallholder farmers need seeds that are resilient to changing and unpredictable weather conditions. 

This curated GM seed environment, means local varieties do not stand a chance yet indigenous seeds have overtime proven their natural adaptability to the environment. This is why we are calling for more dialogue and engagements to ensure that indigenous sustainable agriculture is allowed to thrive.

—The writer is programme officer, Seed Savers Network-Kenya