I especially want to bring in the perspective of women farmers because they are most often targeted by multinational seed companies. Development projects focused on women’s empowerment are popular today, and the companies selling GMO and hybrid seeds and the matching chemical fertilisers are jumping on this trend. They often target women by giving them loans for seeds in the name of ‘empowerment’. But women often end up signing documents they do not understand. Maybe they think that they will save their family from poverty, but this actually keeps them trapped in a cycle of debt and poverty. Sometimes they agree to give up their land, or their animals, or the crops they had saved to eat, if they cannot pay the debt. In addition, when the women cannot repay on time it can lead to depression or stress. We have even seen situations where women commit suicide because they are unable to pay the debts.
Kenya is not the only place where farmers are suffering from the connection between debt, depression and suicide. The infamous crisis of farmer suicides in India is also linked to rising debts. In her book Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace, Indian activist, farmer and scholar Dr. Vandana Shiva says it well: ‘It’s seed freedom for the corporations but seed slavery for the peasants.’”
Can you explain why debt is often higher for farmers using GMO and hybrid seed than for those relying on indigenous seed?
"They tell the farmers that indigenous seeds cannot produce enough. This is the way that the multinational companies take control over farmers’ lives."
“The reason is that it is illegal to save hybrid and GMO seeds from season to season – because they are patented. That means every time farmers want to grow, they need money. And they might not even have repaid their debt from last season, which means they need a new loan to buy seeds for planting. They tell the farmers that indigenous seeds cannot produce enough – yet we have seen our great grandmothers and great grandfathers producing food in bulk with indigenous seeds. This is the way that the multinational companies take control over farmers’ lives.
With indigenous seeds, you preserve your own seeds, from your own harvest. Like today, when we were at the farm, we harvested sweet potatoes and now we will use what we harvested for re-planting. So, I don’t spend any money buying seeds and I don’t need to take out a loan. And that is why within KPL we are educating farmers to preserve their own seeds, and to multiply them, so we don’t lose our culture of indigenous seeds and we stay free from the pressure of debt. These debts affect and threaten the mental and physical health of all farmers in Kenya, which is why the fight to keep the ban on GMOs is so important.”
We also know that debt and increased poverty worsens gender-based violence. Do you see similar links between gender-based violence and patented seeds in your work with women farmers in Kenya?
“Gender-based violence often arises when women sign documents they do not understand, and maybe they do this without their husband knowing or consenting. When the partner learns about it, there is a risk of violence erupting. Women may be beaten or chased out of the house with their children.
In Kenya, we have a culture that oppresses women and a lot of women are facing violence. Over the past years, different classes of women have gotten organised – let me call it organised instead of empowered – but peasant women have been left behind. These are the women who ensure that the world has enough food, but when it comes to decision making and issues of access, they face a lot of violence and discrimination. A woman can work, and then when the harvest is ready, the husband will come and sell everything and disappear with the money. And then, when the husband returns and the wife questions him, she risks being beaten. We had a case like this in Mariwa, where a woman was beaten almost to death by her husband.
These are some of the many issues we are addressing within the Women’s Articulation of the Kenyan Peasant’s League. Recently, in 2022, we successfully crowdfunded to buy land for a rescue center for women facing gender-based violence and land grabbing. Women can come here to heal physically and mentally while they farm together and fight for justice in their respective cases. The KPL is also working with allied organisations to fight gender-based violence in the country, both at the community level and by demonstrating on the street.”
Finally, can you tell us why an agroecological approach to food production is better for the physical and mental health of women farmers and their families?
“Women who practice agroecology often have their own seed banks. Like me: I have my own seeds, so when I want to grow I can plant different varieties. I know each one, and I know how it grows and what it produces. Through agroecological practices, we do our own research. Agroecology gives us the power of independence: we have our own seeds, we have our own knowledge, and so we cannot be deceived by the companies.
"Agroecology gives us the power of independence: we have our own seeds, we have our own knowledge, and so we cannot be deceived by the companies"
What we see when we try to mobilise women to join is that the women who cannot pay their loans are depressed, they are sad. If their harvest fails and they have not paid the loans from their last seeds, how can they access seeds to plant for next season? Their mind is only focused on the dependency of the loans. But if they have their own seeds, they have control. And that is why within KPL we are educating farmers to preserve their own seeds, and to multiply their own seeds, so we don’t lose our culture of our indigenous seeds.
We need to preserve our indigenous seeds wherever we come from. Those of us in the agroecology movement are coming from different parts of the world, and we all have our indigenous seeds. Let us preserve them, let us multiply them, because that is the only way we can fight the multinational companies. The victory on the 7th of March was a step towards safe, healthy and independent food production, which will benefit all Kenyans. Let us reject the multinational seeds and let us embrace our indigenous seeds!
Interview by Sophia Wathne, a decolonial feminist activist scholar based in Denmark, where she is part of Collective Against Environmental Racism, Copenhagen Food Cooperative, and Forum for Food Sovereignty. She earned her PhD in political science and sociology through a Participatory Action Research project with the Kenyan Peasants League and collaborated on the crowdfunding campaign for their women’s rescue centre in Mariwa. Contact: sophia.wathne@sns.it
Watch videos from the Kenyan Peasant’s League about building a movement against GMOs and the GMO ruling.
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This article is part of Issue 2-2025: Cultivating health and healing
