Who can share seeds? As climate change and counterfeits hurt Kenyan farmers, it’s a growing question

Kikuyu, Kenya (AP) – was placed in the forest area in the city of Kikoyo in central Kenya, and the National Seed Bank stands as a decisive security for the future of agriculture in the country. Inside two cold rooms of a government building, more than 50,000 species of seeds are indexed and stored.

The bank was established in 1988 after realizing that some traditional varieties of seeds were lost, which is more common with climate change. It aims to keep the seeds to search and reserve farms.

“We realize that some of the traditional items that we abandoned and then are actually more flexible in climate change, so when you offer them, especially in marginal areas, these varieties outperform the improved items,” said the director of the Institute for Genetic Resources Resources. The bank, Desterio Nyamongo, is managed, referring to the hybrid seeds that must be purchased in each cultivation season.

He said that some bank seeds were found to be more resistant to diseases and pests and were high yields.

This gives hope to a country that relies heavily on agriculture that is fueled by rain instead of irrigation, which makes it more vulnerable to climate shocks like dehydration. The sector contributes a third of the GDP of Kenya.

Kenya is not alone facing food security. According to the United Nations Food, Agriculture and Organization report in 2023, more than a billion people across the African continent are unable to withstand healthy seizures, and the number of people who are hungry increases.

But in Kenya, other complications appeared. In recent months, farmers have suffered losses in millions of shillings (tens of thousands of dollars) after planting the fake seeds purchased from sellers from the private sector.

Kenyan officials have acknowledged that the seed sector is very important.

During the country’s first international seed conference in August, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Paul Renault, said that Africa has a limited ability to produce high -quality approved seeds subject to quality standards.

The head of the Eastern Farmers Union in Africa, Stephen Mustari, said that the vitality of crops in Kenya has become low, and it is believed that the main reason is the seed and seed breeding program.

But some farmers say that the efforts made to improve the seed system in Kenya were limited by the 2012 law that prohibits the participation of seeds, which millions of farmers have done in every cultivation season to reduce the cost of production.

The government said that the law aims to prevent the circulation of uncomplicated seeds and protect farmers, but it faces a challenge to the court from more than ten farmers throughout Kenya who say it is charged with having to buy new seeds in every cultivation season. The next session in the case in March.

Francis Najri is one of the farmers who filed the case. A bank of the original population of the local community runs on its five -acre farm in the semi -arid region, which is 120 km (74 miles) from the capital, Nairobi.

His work has become an educational land for farmers who have suffered from disappointing returns from hybrid seeds.

“We have seen that the original seeds are more flexible and do better in our region even when there is a decrease in rain,” he told Associated Press.

He shares enthusiastically his knowledge of preserving the seeds using traditional methods such as covering them with wood – it is believed to repel mites – or keep them in dirt pots. He emphasized the use of locally available materials without any cost.

Farmer Maxella Ounura, who sows the fine corn in the West Busia Province, said the original crops are providing food security solution. It is not part of the legal challenge but cooperates with NGIRI through a Kenyan organization called the Seed Saver.

However, “instead of encouraging our government to those who provide solutions through the original crops, they are now coordinating those who share seeds at the community level.”

The participation of the seeds in Kenya can bring two years in prison, or a fine of up to one million Kenynia ($ 7,700), or both. No farmer has been charged.

The National Seed Bank is distributed from time to time, some of its groups to farmers without any cost, in the hope that the varieties that have long been adopted for local conditions will be more flexible.

The manager, NYAMONOGO, said that farmers who cannot afford the costs of farm inputs such as fertilizers required for hybrid seeds are better in cultivation of traditional varieties.

He said: “It will be a mistake for farmers, especially farmers in marginal areas, to start thinking that using the original seeds is backward.” “Far from that, because some original items have adopted over time to local conditions, and therefore they are more flexible.”

NYAMONOGO did not comment on the Farmers Court Challenge to ban seed sharing.

The head of the International Center for Non -profit adaptation to adaptation to the change of the Dutch climate, Patrick F. said. Vicoinin, governments can invest in community seed programs to maintain a diversity of original varieties.

“The original crop varieties provide many benefits, especially their genetic diversity, which helps farmers to adapt to climate change, pest control, diseases, and poor soil fertility management. However, they also come with challenges, such as low returns or lesions and new diseases.”

Kenyan supporters of the original seeds such as NGIRI said that the low returns and the ability to pest and new diseases only occur when a variety of its original location is taken.

“The reason they are the indigenous population is that they adapt to the climatic conditions and diseases in the area from which it came from.”

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