Cases against GMOs hurting agriculture sector, Kagwe says

Agriculture CS Mutahi Kagwe during a consultative meeting in Mombasa County on Thursday 13th March 2025. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

The ongoing cases against the adoption of GMO products are hurting the agriculture sector and affecting plans to address food security in the country.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, cases of new pests and diseases could be dealt with through biotechnology, but the litigations were affecting this.

This emerged during the 13th Annual Biosafety Conference held in Sawela Lodge in Naivasha amid anxiety and fears about GMO products.

According to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, the new litigations were derailing the adoption of modern biotechnologies by communities seeking to address seething challenges of pests, drought, weeds, and diseases.  

Kagwe said the government's move to lift the ban was backed by findings of various studies that determined that there are robust policies, legal, regulatory institutional structures for safe applications of modern biotechnologies.

The CS remarks were contained in a speech read by Rashid Khator, a director in the Ministry, who noted that biotechnology would help in addressing food security challenges.

He dismissed safety fears on which the court cases were based on noting that the government had put in place robust biosafety regulations through the National Biotechnology Development Policy, and the Biosafety Act and Regulations.

"The government is committed to facilitating the adoption of new technologies and innovations to transform low agricultural productivity in the country," said Kagwe.

He added that the government will continue to support the supervision and control over the transfer, handling, and use of GMOs in order to ensure the safety of human and animal health.

On his Prof Jenesio Kinyamario, the chair of the Biosafety Board, said that despite the development of local GMOs, the lifting of the ban had attracted several litigations against the Authority.

He said that the Authority has so far approved several GMO crops, such as Bt cotton, Bt maize, and virus-resistant cassava, currently undergoing national trials.

The chair, represented by Director Hussein Mohammed, said they have also approved GMOs such as virus-resistant sweet potato in Kakamega, Biofortified cassava at Alupe in Busia County, and late blight-resistant Irish potato at Molo in  Nakuru County.

Others, he added, are drought-tolerant maize and the African Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) in Kiboko, Makueni County, as well as approved field trials for testing GM vaccines for the control of Rift Valley Fever disease in cattle, goats, sheep, and camels.

According to Prof. Douglas Miano, from the University of Nairobi, the ongoing court  ban on GMOs has created uncertainty in the field after decades of research in various fields.

Miano said Kenya continued to lag in the commercialization of GMO products due to lengthy court injunctions, with negative public perception of safety being the biggest challenge.

“Kenya joins its African peers with a mere 5 percent adoption of GMOs despite the rapid development of the sector to address a myriad of challenges from Medicine to agriculture,” he said.