Kenya, Peasants League opposes introduction of genetically modified food and seeds

teleSUR English

*Peasant League's  appeal highlighted procedural flaws of the decision *The introduction of transgenic could have serious consequences for agroecology *Peasant League rejects genetically modified seeds *The Food-Cop organization tries to support farmers *Transgenic foods and agroecology are two conflicting and incompatible models

Transcript

00:00In other news, the Kenyan Peasants League is once again trying to prevent the introduction

00:04of genetically modified food and seeds into Kenya through the court system.

00:08Oscar Abelda with the details.

00:14They challenged the sudden lifting of the ban on genetically modified food

00:18when William Rudeau became president of Kenya in 2022.

00:22Two years later, they were still waiting for the trial to begin.

00:25After the High Court ordered the interim suspension of the lifting of the ban,

00:29the government's lawyers tried to change jurisdiction.

00:32If they eventually succeeded in winning the case,

00:34it was when the judge was changed and replaced by another judge.

00:50The case was closed and the injunction was lifted in November 2024 on the day of this recording.

00:56The state definitely has a lot of machinery behind it.

00:59We are up against a huge force.

01:01So it will take the efforts of the masses in order to allow

01:06their health and their lives to be put at peril.

01:12The Peasants League appeal highlighted the procedural flaws of the presidential cabinet's

01:17decision, the lack of public participation and of the prior scientific reports required by law.

01:22Furthermore, it appealed to the principle of precaution in consideration of the risk to health

01:27and life if they lose their agricultural and farming techniques

01:31and the original seeds that are the basis of what they eat and what they are.

01:34When we harvest again, you do sorting and you select the ones that you feel best

01:40that you can again keep for the next season.

01:43If the Court of Appeal now refuses to suspend the introduction of transgenics as a precautionary

01:49measure, it could mean the beginning of the end of the systems that

01:52farmers are putting in place to protect and promote agroecology.

01:56The data globally says that the world today is producing enough food to feed 14 billion people.

02:04Kenyan Peasants League rejects arguments about the need for genetically modified seeds

02:09as a weapon to fight hunger.

02:11The issue of hunger is not lack of food.

02:14It's poverty.

02:15People cannot buy the food.

02:16So if I don't have money to buy food, to buy indigenous meals now,

02:20and you bring GMOs and I still don't have money, how will I buy it?

02:26One of the systems they are creating is the Food Cop, where producers and consumers ensure

02:31the production and distribution of healthy food.

02:33This undeveloped urban area of Nairobi had a reputation for heroin addiction and crime.

02:38But they have joined the Food Cop, and thanks to a safe market,

02:41they now produce chemical-free food and are growing.

02:44They produce, care for the environment, and expand a model that seeks social justice first.

02:50This office from where the Konyami Food Cop is coordinated has just been demolished

02:54after this recording last December.

02:56But the system devised is working computerized.

02:59Anyone living in the urban and rural farming communes can place their weekly order and share shares.

03:04The numbers are still small, but it has the potential to leave the people in charge of

03:08deciding what they want to eat and be, even if the government does not take any notice.

03:13These are two confronted and incompatible models.

03:16Transgenic seeds, accompanied by other legislations that promote mechanized agriculture,

03:21cornering the rights of peasants, versus agroecology, adapted to the climate crisis,

03:26in theory able to feed everyone by cooling the planet.

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