The national government, counties and other stakeholders have been asked to increase budgetary allocation and investment in safe and environmentally friendly agriculture.
Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (Pelum) Kenya member organisations said it was time for deliberate and increased financing, investment in agroecology for a healthy Nation.
In a communique signed by all the 56 Pelum member organisation which was presented during a food fair to showcase the potential of Agroecology and indigenous foods towards a sustainable and healthy nation in Nakuru, agriculture experts observed that Kenya 2020/2021 allocation a meagre 1.8 per cent of the total voted budget contrary to the Africa Union commitment made in Maputo.
According to the Maputo Declaration, member countries committed to allocate 10 per cent of the national resources to Agriculture but according to the Budget Policy Statement 2020/2021 the allocation on food and nutrition security was a mere 1.8 per cent.
Reading the communique, Pelum Kenya Board of Directors chairperson, Collins Othieno petitioned the National and County governments to increase their agriculture budget allocation to 10 per cent of the total budgets.
He underscored the need to prioritise agroecology as a major strategy for addressing climate change in sustainable agriculture because it would mitigate the effects of global warming by reducing dependency on fossil fuels while at the same time enhancing carbon insulation.
"Climate change has affected all sectors especially food production, agroecological practices enhance farms' and communities' resilience to climate related disasters and risks," Othieno said.
He called on Parliament to enact legislations that recognise and protect ownership of ingigenous seeds and plant varieties, their genetic and diversier characteristics and their use by communities.
"Indigenous seeds play a critical role in promoting and conserving genetic resources, the government and parliament should protect farmer-managed seed systems and formulate enabling laws for the same," he said.
He also called for stricter adherence to the safeguards enshrined in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its expansion to regulate new bio-engineered technologies including genome editing.
CBD has three objectives which include conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of the components of biological diversity and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
On harmful agrochemicals, the agriculture expert urged stakeholders to heighten the awareness and education on the adverse effects of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers.
"Pelum and all its 56 member orgarnisations including small scale farmers and pastoralists from 42 counties urge the government to issue immediate ban on all harmful agrochemicals which have been condemned elsewhere," he said.
Othieno said it was unfortunate that farm chemicals with harmful components that have been banned in Europe and America were finding their way into the Kenyan market and on to farms.
He observed that synthetic fertilisers had long-term effects on soils and called for the use of sustainable inputs through the promotion and adoption of agroecology.
