Greenpeace Africa Executive Director Michael O’Brien Onyeka

More money for small scale farmers with ecological farming – this is the message contained in a Greenpeace Africa report released in Nairobi today. The report, entitled Fostering economic resilience: The Financial Benefits of Ecological Farming in Kenya and Malawi, marks the start of Greenpeace Africa’s campaign for ecological farming in East Africa.

The report – based on research by Greenpeace in Kenya and Malawi – shows that ecological farming provides substantial financial benefits to small-scale farmers when compared to those farmers that use agro-chemicals.

In partnership with the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition (KBioC) and the Kenyan Organic Agriculture Network (KOAN), Greenpeace will host a food fair –to celebrate ecological farming – on Saturday 25th April at Central Park, (behind Serena Hotel) Nairobi.

The food fair will also have a cook off, aimed at celebrating the diversity of Kenyan food. Five participants will compete to cook the tastiest meals using typical East African ingredients. Coupled with that is an organic farmers’ market where people will be able to buy healthy organic foods and meet as well as interact with famers.

“Bring your family to the food fair this Saturday for entertainment to celebrate foods grown in harmony with nature. Be Food Sovereign, choose foods that are naturally nurtured” enthused KOAN’s WanjiruKamau.

KBioC continues to urge the government of Kenya to support family farmers who have practiced ecological agriculture for hundreds of years, “Agroecology can comfortably feed everyone in the country. All we ask is for the government to start a national irrigation fund and invest substantial financial resources into it. With enough water on our lands, we will be able to grow more food throughout the year using sustainable and ecologically friendly farming methods and eradicate hunger across Kenya”Anne Maina, the director KBioC said.

The three (3)organisations have come together to show how farmers can benefit from ecological farming. Together, they aim to work towards a healthy and food secure population for today, tomorrow and our future.

“The chemical intensive practices of the Green Revolution are increasingly unsustainable, Greenpeace Africa wants to show that ecological farming is not only good for the planet, but provides superior economic benefits to farmers,” explained Greenpeace Africa executive director, Michael O’Brien Onyeka.

Greenpeace Africa already works in South Africa, the Congo Basin and Senegal, and is now looking to begin working, specifically on agriculture, in East Africa. With agriculture taking centre stage in many governments efforts to ensure economic growth, Greenpeace Africa believes ecological farming is the solution to agricultural development in the region

 African Press Organization