Daily Nation | 27 September 2009
Nairobi — Small scale farmers have accused the Kenyan Government of failing to act to address persistent food insecurity.
Further, they want policies that discourage use of chemical fertilisers and other substances that damage soil fertility to be introduced.
Under the auspices of the Sustainable Agriculture and Community Development Programme, the group also opposed the leasing of agricultural land to foreigners.
The 500 farmers' representatives from Eastern, Central, Rift Valley, Western and Coast provinces had gathered in Thika for their annual exhibition sponsored by Sacdep and German-based GLS Bank.
Joseph Mutuura, the Sacdep executive director, said Kenya would be food sufficient if the right approach to agriculture was followed.
Over-reliance on imported fertilisers leads to high cost of food and also erodes farmers' earnings, he said.
