• They observed that introduction of GMOs in Kenya and other African nations would lead to neo-colonisation because whoever control one's food has total control.
• They dismissed the myth that GM crops produces higher yields saying that there is no gene for higher yields because production entirely depends on the parent crop.
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
Pro-organic food production crusaders have warned that introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms will curtail food sovereignty and expose farmers to court cases due to seed patenting issues.
They observed that Kenya has has not set aside no GMO zones which could lead to cross pollination and legal suits against farmers for using patented seeds.
The crusaders who included foreigners from Europe observed that African countries did not have sufficient funding to run the GMO seed production laboratory especially in Kenya where the government has announced that it would not be funding research.
They observed that introduction of GMOs in Kenya and other African nations would lead to neo-colonisation because whoever control one's food has total control.
Speaking during a three-day workshop for university students at Seed Savers Network Kenya in Gilgil, Seed Change Executive Director, Leticia Ama said there was need to re-look at the history of past and current colonisation and how it has affected Africa’s food systems.
The more than 30 agriculture students from universities in Western Kenya, Rift Valley, Mount Kenya and Nairobi regions were being trained on the GMO myths and facts and how to counter them through different mediums with the main one being social media.
Kenya Peasants League Policy Chief Advisor, Sidi Otieno said the country depended on students and the youth to stand in the gap and fight against oppressive seed laws which are set to worsen with GMO introduction.
He said the education curriculum was formulated and manipulated by the industries such as agro-chemical processors and seed companies to outspread their narrative and keep the masses under their reigns and thus the need to create alternative forums to unlearn.
"There are very myths being propagated by the pro-GM groups and GM industries that constantly claim that want to make agriculture more sustainable, give higher yields, reduce pesticide use and provide more nutritious food but the reality on the ground paints a different picture," he said.
Sidi said the narrative that the world needed GM crops for to feed the growing population was myth because there is no global or regional food shortage.
He cited the situation in Kenya where thousands were suffering from hunger and in starvation in some parts of North Rift and North Eastern regions while other parts such as Central Kenya and South Rift were swimming in plentitude to the extent of feeding food produce to their livestock or rotting on the farm.
"We have also had situations where people are dying of hunger Laikipia and parts of the Kieni in Nyeri while farmers in Nyandarua are pouring milk at their gates which proves that the challenge is not food shortage but access, distribution, poverty, land and wastage," he said.
Sidi vowed to push likeminded lobby groups to push for food to be removed from trade in Kenya since the market force has failed to distribute it.
He dismissed the myth that GM crops produces higher yields saying that there is no gene for higher yields because production entirely depends on the parent crop into which herbicide tolerance and insect resistance are inserted.
Sidi who was training the students quoted a United States of America Department of Agriculture report which stated that “genetically engineered crops have not shown to increase yield potential especially when the variety used to carry HT or BT genes are not the highest yielding cultivars.”
The lobbyist who was in a group that sued the government for introducing GMOs in the country and won added that the narrative that there were no alternatives to GM if we are to increase food production was wrong because low input could provide food security and sovereignty for future generations.
He added that it was also wrong for pro-GM and GM industry to claim that GM was and extension of natural breeding saying that the technique was radically different from convention plant breeding because it involved genetic engineering who consequences were unpredictable.
Sidi urged the government to adhere to the recommendations of the Prof. Kihumbu Thairu led task force of GMOs and their safety which included a call that Kenya funds its own research on the engineered crops.
"Who is funding the research on GM crops and what are their (the financiers’) interest in the outcomes," he posed.
He said most of the researchers including universities working on GM crops were being funded by the seed companies and there was no way they could give findings that did not favour their financiers.
“Those who dared to give reports to the contrary of their funders were maligned and their reports condemned,” he said.