Agriculture sector players in Kenya have been urged to adopt and embrace climate-friendly food production mechanisms, to enhance food security in readiness for the growing population in near future.
This is to address the concerns of global implications such as climate change and the runaway global food inflation rates, that have so far driven up the costs of essential commodities to almost a decade high.
According to players in the sustainable farming systems under the umbrella of the Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA), artificial farming inputs have continued to increase the pace of climate change and hindered the regeneration of soils for agricultural purposes.
“Both the public and private sectors in the agriculture sector need to be cognisant of the negative effects artificial practices have on our production that of today, is not sufficient for the populations occasioning perpetual food and nutrition insecurities,” Biovision Africa Trust executive director, David Amudavi, said.
He was speaking during the launch of the first Eastern Africa agroecology conference in Nairobi, where he also decried the dire cases of starvation facing millions of Kenyans on the back of large untapped agricultural resources.
“It is a crushing disappointment that we have people sleeping hungry in the country and only less than a quarter of our land being put under underproductive use,” Amudavi said.
The summit, therefore, seeks to bring together over 500 delegates and exhibitors for the purposes of invoking consciousness and motivating regional and continental communities to dialogue on how to invest in interventions that can ameliorate the negative impacts of the current unsustainable food systems.
This is by transitioning towards more environmentally friendly solutions with long-term vision and planning.
Grace Mugo from the Ministry of Agriculture reiterated the urgent need to scale up and ensure sustainability of farming systems based on environmentally friendly technologies and methodologies.
“The Ministry is very much involved in the drive towards ensuring food security in the country, we, therefore, urge all players in the sector to consolidate efforts to ensure interventions towards food sustainability are adopted and put into practice,” Mugo said.
About 700 delegates across the globe have already registered for the summit with about 20 farmers and farmer associations from Kenya expected to take part in the expo scheduled for 21st to 24th March this year at the Safari Park hotel, Nairobi.
