Farmers in the Central Rift are now calling on the national government to promote the production of indigenous crops and ensure access to their seeds to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The over 500 farmers under the Makongo Agriculturalists Network (MAN) further want both levels of government to come up with policies that would secure the sovereignty of Kenya’s indigenous seeds in a bid to enhance food security and conserve the indigenous seed variety.
While petitioning the state to address the shortage of indigenous seeds and food, organic farm inputs, and ensure access to markets, MAN, through its Spokesman, Mr. Francis Ngiri, called on the National and County Governments to put in place systems to identify and document all Kenyan seed varieties to protect sovereignty and history and boost food security.
He was speaking during an Indigenous Seed Networking and Exhibition Symposium organised by Seed Savers Network in collaboration with the County Government of Nakuru at Gilgil Trading Centre that brought together smallholder farmers, botanists, entomologists, agronomists, agricultural economists, and meteorologists, among a host of other professionals.
Ngiri said the conservation and use of traditional crop varieties provide a wealth of crop genetic diversity and should be recognised as critical to climate change adaptation.
More than 80 per cent of small-scale farmers in the country, noted Ngiri, rely on the traditional seed sector, yet the country’s seed laws and regulations do not recognise the informal seed sector.
It is illegal to sell uncertified seeds in Kenya, including the traditional seeds sold in local markets.
Due to Intellectual Property Rights and the Plant Variety Act, which currently prohibits farmers from selling or exchanging seeds that are not registered, Seed Savers Network is encouraging farmers to come on board and have their seeds coded in the community seed banks so that they can lock out the issues of biopiracy and stealing of their indigenous seeds.
“Our lawmakers and technocrats at both levels of government should come up with legislation and policies that will allow farmers to produce safer and healthier foods using readily available indigenous seeds which they can share among themselves,” the MAN spokesman pointed out.
Ngiri disclosed that the network is also promoting the use of traditional farming methods by smallholder farmers, which are pesticide-free and less costly, to enable them to participate in farming practices to increase their households’ incomes while at the same time improving their nutritional status.
“Indigenous seeds go hand in hand with traditional farming. Farming is a venture that should be enjoyable and profitable to many; it should not be a venture that many small-scale farmers cannot afford,” he explained.
Ngiri added, “So, we are training our farmers to use the available resources—the waste from the farm and compost manure—to do planting. We are also training them to prepare bio-pesticides to mix the available chilies to spray on their crops in case of diseases”.
He stated that if farmers could access the right traditional planting materials, which are adaptive and resilient to climate change, they could remain productive under harsh weather conditions, thereby contributing to food nutrition and security and improving household incomes.
Seed Savers Network is working with smallholder farmers to trace and preserve indigenous seeds at risk of extinction and reintroduce them to farms in Kenya while promoting traditional farming practices devoid of pesticides.
Once identified, the seeds are then preserved in seed and gene banks, where farmers could access them during planting season.
During harvest season, farmers are required to take back some of the seeds from the harvested crops to store in the seed and gene banks with their names coded for identification and traceability.
The seedbanks have been established in villages close to farmers across Kenya. The network has established 51 Community Seedbanks and Gene-banks.
It has a registered farmer base of 60, 000 members countrywide, with headquarters in Gilgil and spread across Vihiga, Baringo, and Kakamega counties.
Ngiri indicated that a lot of people were talking about climate change, yet the seeds used on most farms were contributing to it.
“What we are advocating for is the use of indigenous seeds and organic manure, which is safer and more friendly to the environment. However, there is an acute shortage of indigenous seeds and food, organic farm inputs, and lack of access to local markets,” he added.
Ngiri went on: “Rules and regulations should be put in place to protect the sovereignty of indigenous seeds from multinational seed breeders and manufacturers, as they are very significant in ensuring food security”.
Ngiri urged policymakers, agricultural experts, and manufacturers to redirect their attention to climate-smart food crops that, for hundreds of years, guaranteed food security, such as sorghum, yams, arrowroots, cassava, sweet potato vines, finger millet, pigeon peas, and traditional cereals such as groundnuts.
He said Kenya needs to establish a system that would allow farmers to exchange and sell seeds among themselves, which would further enhance the conservation of indigenous seeds.
“Agricultural experts should be encouraged to collaborate with smallholder farmers in identifying important traits that can be suitable for breeding to produce seeds that are high-yielding and can withstand climate change. When farmers are enabled to produce their own seeds, the cost of production drastically drops, enhancing seed quality and availability,” Ngiri added.
Statistics from the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) indicate that the informal seed sector in Kenya accounts for between 60-70 per cent seeds planted by farmers across the country.
Ms. Lucia Wamboi, also from MAN, said the Network is partnering with farmer groups across the devolved unit to train smallholder farmers on indigenous seed bulking, multiplication, and selection. They are also educated on developing seed banks on a smaller scale.
“When the crops are harvested, they begin by sorting out high-quality seed and thereafter preserve them with diatomaceous dust, a pesticide and agent that absorbs moisture and keeps the seeds dry. Our training model imparts farmers with agronomical practices that conserve the natural environment, including water and air. They neither use synthetic fertiliser nor artificial pesticides. Farmers are taught the use of organic bio-pesticide formulation, liquid manure, and external inorganic farm inputs such as urea or diammonium phosphate,” indicated Ms. Wamboi.
The training regime involves teaching locals to save quality seeds from their farms in a bank and identify the best seeds suited for a particular region.
“The success of plant and animal biodiversity practices lies with the youth. We emphasise training them on the importance of preserving our indigenous seeds, which in turn promotes food security,” observed Ms. Wamboi.
According to the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Strategy (2017–2026), negative climate change impacts are expected to be more adverse in developing countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa such as Kenya, which has experienced increasing temperatures since the 1960s coupled with increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as El Niño and La Niña.
“Climate change is posing a serious threat to livelihoods, and if not mitigated, many nations risk facing serious food shortages. The effects of the negative impacts will include declining agricultural productivity and the loss of crops, livestock, fish, and investments in agriculture due to changing temperatures and precipitation regimes and the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Due to unpredictable weather patterns, farmers depending on rain-fed agriculture are registering losses, and this affects the entire value chain, leading to job losses and hence poverty”, states the strategy report.
Ms. Wamboi affirmed that their drive was to empower small-scale farmers with information on how to have access to diverse and less costly traditional seeds for planting to contribute to the mitigation of climate change, fighting food insecurity in the country, and also enhancing food sovereignty.
She explained that indigenous seeds mature faster and are drought-resistant. “The government has a role in ensuring the production of organic food, which is good for health,” she said.
Ms. Wamboi asked the government to establish a resource centre where farmers could learn best practices.
Gilgil Sub-County Administrator Ms. Agnes Kariuki observed that having better access to quality indigenous seed helps farmers produce more for household consumption and surplus for sale.
Ms. Kariuki indicated that indigenous foods present great value in adapting to changing weather patterns, varied soil types, temperature, pressure, clouds, wind, humidity, and rainfall, as they are able to withstand the challenges and hold the key to ending the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa region.
“The vision of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019–2028 is a world where diverse, healthy, and sustainable food and agricultural systems flourish and where resilient rural and urban communities enjoy a high quality of life in dignity and equity, free from hunger and poverty. Through agro-biodiversity training, we will conserve our near-extinct traditional foodstuffs by showing farmers how to preserve their high-quality genetic material,” stated Ms. Kariuki.
The sub-county administrator noted that the quality of most traditional seeds is as high as the commercial ones and could even be better as they have been grown in the country for ages.
Mr. Simon Ngang’a, an agronomist, said that indigenous seeds are seeds that have been grown, selected, and managed by local communities through several generations and are naturally adapted through an influence of local environmental factors in their growing environments.
He further said that indigenous seeds and food are resilient, diverse in character, and occur in several different forms.
“These seeds and food are also resilient to threats arising from pests, disease, and human interventions and are heterogeneous and polymorphic,” added Ngang’a.
The agronomist highlighted that there are numerous benefits gained when indigenous seeds and foods are promoted and supported. “Promoting and supporting indigenous seeds and food assures sustainability of not only our food sufficiency but also an integral life support system that provides a life- and food-secure future, thereby reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and life in harmony with nature,” stated Ngang’a.
He listed some actions to be taken in order to support and promote indigenous seed and food systems, saying, “To fully support and promote our indigenous seed and food systems, we recommend revitalization of local food production systems traditions at the household level, the development of laws to promote and support farmer managed seed systems (FMSS), and the promotion of agrobiodiversity and agro-ecological practices to enhance livelihoods through food and nutrition security, amongst others”.
By Anne Mwale
