AGRICULTURE
The Kenya Peasants League farmers from Migori County have picketed in Migori town to oppose any attempts to lift the country’s Genetically Modified Organism (GMOs) ban.
The Kenyan High Court extended the ban on the importation, distribution, and adoption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to October this year. John Owino, a Member of the Kenya Peasants League and a small-scale farmer from Migori said that his experimental farm on GMO Maize seeds contained a higher acidity that was not proportional to his soil leading to low produce.
The Kenya Peasants League is a social movement of Kenyan peasant farmers, fishers, pastoralists and consumers whose main aim is to promote peasant agroecology for food sovereignty by fighting the neoliberal tendencies that affect local agriculture.
Owino said that GMOs should not be introduced in the country without proper public participation consideration to iron out some of the issues that the product may pose to the environment and publics. Jacob Okumu another member of the Kenya Peasants League noted that the government should come up with proper public participation on any GMO product urging the high court to make a fair ruling on November 7, 2024 to uphold the ban.
Okumu noted that GMO seeds are not reusable like the natural ones that can be germinated and reused for years. Kenya National Farmers Federation of Farmers (KEFFA)-Migori Branch Chairperson Peter Chacha echoed the sentiment saying that GMOs should not be introduced in the country.
Chacha said that proper public education and participation need to be carried out to address issues that Kenyans were concerned about before introducing something that Kenyans were not aware of.
The May 30, 2024 session in which parties challenging the adoption of GMOs in Kenya appeared before High Court judge Justice Lawrence Mugambi, Lawyer Kevin Oriri representing the Kenyan Peasants League had argued that whereas the Environment and Land Court (ELC) case centered its focus specifically on the legality of the adoption of the BT Maize as regulated by the Biosafety Act, 2009.
The cases pending speak predominately to the constitutionality of the drastic cabinet decision of 2022 to lift the ban on GMOs; that have been placed back in 2012, without involving the stakeholders, the public and the consequential violations and/or treat to fundamental human rights that arise.
The high court will however issue a ruling on whether or not it will proceed with the case on November 7. Not forgetting, In October 2022, the government lifted a 10-year ban on the cultivation and importation of GMO crops in a bid to address the runway food shortages in the country.