A consortium of farming experts have raised their concern over the use of banned pesticides in the agricultural sector in the country.
Under the Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Association, they have attributed the rise in cancer cases in the country to the use of the pesticides.
They pointed to Roundup chemical which was banned in Europe but has continued to be used in the country to control weeds.
This emerged over the weekend at the end of association 21st Annual General Meeting held at Sweet Waters Hotel in Naivasha.
According to the association national chairman Collins Othieno, excessive use of agrochemicals had led to an increase in cancer epidemic and acute and chronic poisoning of crops.
Othieno noted that the only solution in the country lay in immediate ban on the chemicals including the Roundup chemical.
“We are worried by the use of Glyphosate Based Herbicides which have been used in the agriculture sector as a broad-spectrum weed killer,” he said.
Addressing the press, Othieno who was flanked by the association members questioned some of the Agriculture Bills that the Ministry of agriculture was developing.
He termed the bills which include coffee, food crop industrial, horticultural crops, miraa-pyrethrum, livestock and Irish potatoes regulation as a threat to food security in the country.
“Some bills like bee keeping and Irish potato growing are a major threat to food security in the country as they have been pushed by companies that have interest in seed production,” he said.
The Chairman at the same time expressed the association’s concern over the funds allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture in the budget terming it as inadequate.
“We urge the government to increase the agriculture budget allocations to ten percent with special attention to ago-ecology due to climate change,” he said.
Othieno warned that over 3m Kenyans were suffering from hunger while experiencing the triple burden of malnutrition and co-existence of under-nutrition.
“COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for Kenya to be food self-sufficient and the budget policies and allocations at national and county level should support the domestic food system,” he said.
A member of the association Zachary Makanya called on the government to be cautious about releasing GMO crops before their effect on the environment and humans are well known.
He noted that farmers who were not keen on GMO should be protected from the effects of the crops while practicing organic farming.
“We have seen the trials of cotton GMOs in India fail and we are asking that those farmers who are not keen on this farming method to be protected,” he said.