Thread by @MissNasike

A thread on lifting the ban on GMOs in Kenya.

In 2020, I wrote why the move by the Kenyan government then to lift the ban on GMOS was an ill advised

I still hold the same opinion today. Here’s why.

Link to article conservationatheart.wordpress.com/2020/11/21/eco…

1.Lifting the ban exposes innocent smallholder farmers to draconian intellectual property laws by the multinational corporations fronting GMOs.

GM seeds are patented and this could, for instance, have farmers forced to pay royalties for GM crops that contaminate their farms

This has happened with potato variety cases in India. Where farmers had to pay a fine of about Kshs.15M for a GM potato variety that grew on their farm without their knowledge.#GMOs

2. Loss of our agricultural biodiversity but also the interference of our country’s ecological balance. GM crops are likely to contaminate non-GM crops through pollination. Leading to a loss of our indigenous crop varieties.#GMOs

3.GMOs aggravate food insecurity. They do so by holding farmers in debt cycles that reduce the farmers’ ability to produce more food for consumption #GMOs

The push to lift the ban on GMOs in Kenya is ill-advised. Food security and sovereignty lies in the farmers controlling and breeding their own seeds. Let the smallholders who produce 80% of our food control their own seeds.

This is corporate capture of our food systems #GMOs

GMOs failed in Burkina Baso. Can’t we learn from such examples

@drvandanashiva @Greenpeaceafric @NavdanyaInt @nongmoreport

Lifting the ban on GM maize imports saturates our market with low priced GM Maize and reduces the amount of maize our farmers produce for fear of making losses.

These ban will oppress smallholder farmers and benefit multinational companies selling and producing GM maize. #GMOs