Farmers from Kilifi County in the northern part of Kenya have voiced their support for agri-biotech and called on the government to lift the ban on GMOs so as to allow them access to products of modern biotechnology. In a communiqué developed at the end of a biotechnology and biosafety awareness seminar on July 9, 2015, farmers said that biotechnology could solve some of the agricultural challenges they face. They noted that the current impasse impedes their economic acceleration.
In a county where 350,000 people, mainly women and children, face starvation due to lack of food, the County Executive for Agriculture, Hon. Mwalimu Menza stressed the need for Kilifi County to adopt modern biotechnology. “The devolution of agriculture ensures Kilifi County government will give priority to farmers’ concerns. We want to embrace biotechnology in Kilifi because we understand its potential benefits”
Scientists at the event took farmers through the basics of biotechnology, the on-going research in the country as well as Kenya’s biosafety framework on agri-biotech.
“I would urge people concerned to let us farmers use new tools invented by our scientists to help us solve farming problems brought about by effects of climate change,” said Mr. Dickson Kahidi, a farmer who has practiced farming for 20 years.
The event was organized by Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) Kenya in partnership with the Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS), the Kilifi County Government and Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).
WE URGE GOVERNMENT TO LIFT THE GMO BAN AND CALL FOR ACCESS TO PRODUCTS OF MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY TO RESOLVE SOME OF OUR AGRICULTURAL CHALLANGES
We the farmers from Kilifi County have on this 9th day of July, 2015 made the following observations and decisions on biotech crops and the GMO ban in Kenya:
Take note that:
- Kenya has invested heavily in efficient agricultural technologies research. We applaud the government for enabling the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) to undertake research on a number of important food security crops including maize, cotton, cassava, sweet potato and sorghum, with the end goal of coming up with improved varieties that have various beneficial qualities such as drought tolerance, insect and virus resistance, as well as nutritional enhancement. We also acknowledge that the efforts to find efficient and effective solutions for Kenyan farmers started as far back as 1991 when KALRO first initiated the virus resistant sweet potato project.
- GM technology has the potential to significantly improve farm productivity, household income and food security. We are encouraged by the voices of our fellow farmers in countries such as Burkina Faso, South Africa and Sudan who are reaping huge benefits accrued from adopting GM technology and whose lives are evidently improving as a result.
- The existing GM imports ban is however a stumbling block standing between farmers and these new improved crop varieties. We are confident that the national regulatory and advisory agencies are committed to the safe deployment of agricultural biotechnology products and acknowledge that these products are not a silver bullet to all our problems. We also appreciate that these modern technologies can be used alongside conventional techniques and are appropriate for the Kenyan people.
- The debate around genetically modified products is often characterized by emotive and misleading information. We applaud the public and private sector’s efforts to get credible scientific information down to the grass-roots and urge that the farmers’ voices are made an integral part of the agricultural biotechnology discussion.
Way hereby request that the government should:
- Further promote public biotechnology awareness implementation through deliberative farmer groups’ dialogue with factual evidence-based information about biotechnology applications, use and products.
- Lift the ban on GMO to facilitate the commercialization of genetically modified crop varieties as products of modern biotechnology for socio-economic development and competitiveness.
- Improve the policy and regulatory environment so as to fast-track the adoption of agricultural biotechnology and accord farmers their right to choose.