Kenyan Government Probed to Ban Pesticides amid Desert Locust Invasion

Months after lobby groups petitioned the ban of more than 200 pesticides in parliament they are now pushing for an instant ban of pesticides that are not suit for human consumption and have multiple chronic health effects on the citizen’s health.

The Resource Oriented Development Initiative (RODI), Kenya Organic Agriculture Network (KOAN), Route to Food Initiative (RTFI), Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya (BIBA-K), are arguing that some pesticides products in the country have multiple chronic health effects despite a move in other regions globally to enact regulations to curb their use.

Statistics reveal that 24 products, among them permethrin, carbendazim and acephate, in the Kenyan market are carcinogenic(able to cause cancer) and 24 are mutagenic (cause genetic damage while others affect hormones and are banned in European, Chinese and Indian markets.

The lobby group is urging the both county and national government authorities in partnership with agricultural associations to implement regular monitoring while addressing transparency and data gaps in order to curb pesticide issues in Kenya, a move raising concerns, that without the use of pesticides, the country’s food production will not be sustainable within months.

“The ban will grate Kenya by exposure to food insecurity thus reducing food production and expose Kenya to pests found everywhere”, Agrochemical Association of Kenya Eric Kimungunyi stated.

As the country waits for the lawsuit on these issue farmers are still optimistic that there shall be an articulated alternative to the locust eradication that has lowered their output.