Include indigenous foods in school curriculum, urge stakeholders

Stakeholders in the agro-ecology sector have called on the government to include in the school curriculum content that covers indigenous seeds, food and nutrition in a bid to ensure sovereignty.

They have further called for support of outreach programmes and activities of different institutions and people, including schoolchildren, to produce food.

This, they noted, would encourage the citizenry to appreciate indigenous foods as nutritionally and culturally wealthy.

The call comes at a time when the government has formed a taskforce to review the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC).

Last month, President William Ruto appointed a 49-member taskforce to evaluate the CBC and recommend appropriate reforms to it, and other sectors of Kenya’s education system.

Protect pollinators

In a joint statement read by two indigenous farmers, players in the private sector, civil society organisations, local communities and the public sector further called for government’s intervention in conservation and protection of pollinators.

The statement was read during the maiden indigenous seeds and food culture harvest fair held at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi.

“We urge the government to support the National Museums of Kenya to map where pollinators are,” said Mr Charles Macharia, a farmer from Kirinyaga, while reading the statement. He presented the joint statement together with Ms Nancy Wangari, another smallholder indigenous farmer from Nakuru.

The farmers called for urgent investment in agro-biodiversity and agro-ecological practices, and promotion of diversity in seed as well as food systems.

Harmful agro-chemicals

They called for the withdrawal of harmful agro-chemicals, saying some of them had been banned elsewhere but found their way into the Kenya market.

“We call for the establishment of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)-free zones before implementation of lifting of their ban,” read the statement.

“GMOs are a threat to our indigenous seeds due to the risk of contamination,” it added.

Speaking in a separate interview during the same event, Dr Fassil Gebeyehu, the general coordinator at Africa Biodiversity Network, called for consideration of possible long-term effects of GMOs to human health and the environment.

He said indigenous seeds would feed the world, especially Africa, not necessarily through productivity, but by diversity and sustainable production.

“Productivity of indigenous seeds can be enhanced through employment of natural mechanisms of enhancing soul health by, for example, using non-synthetic farm inputs,” said Dr Gebeyehu

He cautioned governments against criticising agro-ecology while they have barely supported it.

Instead, Dr Gebeyehu called for involvement of stakeholders such as researchers, academia and experts in indigenous knowledge while dealing with food security matters.

Participatory Land Use Management (PELUM) Kenya Board Chairperson Collins Othieno called on the government to conserve genetic materials and support smallholder farmers to start micro irrigation.

By employing water-harvesting techniques at their levels, he added, smallholder farmers would be able to maximize on production, thus feed their families and engage in meaningful agribusiness.

Affordable loans

He recommended access to affordable loans to farmers to enable them to do micro-irrigation on their farms.

A strong crusader against GMOS, Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya (BIBA) National Coordinator Ann Maina expressed fears that indigenous seeds and foods such as the githirwa and kinyanya maize varieties would be lost.

The GMOs, she added, would cross-pollinate with the indigenous varieties leading to loss of the original ones, which she termed as part of culture, food and nutrition security.

Ms Maina called for public education and participation to look into the pros and cons of GMOs.