[Pirateninfo] Biopiraterie - Kenya-Perspektive

[pcl at jpberlin.de]

THE STANDARD, 05 Nov 2005

Alert over food security

By Peter Cummings Thatiah

Over half a billion people are threatened with hunger in the world 
today and the situation will get worse in years to come, a recent FAO 
survey has revealed.

Of the 852 million threatened with hunger, 815 million reside in 
developing countries.

The worsening situation has been linked directly to loss of 
indigenous knowledge in food production in Africa. From the 173 
million who were chronically hungry in the 1990-1992 period, the 
figure jumped to 200 million in the 1997-1999 period.

Concomitant with the increasing number of the world’s chronically 
hungry is the diminishing role of indigenous knowledge in determining 
food sovereignty in sub-Saharan Africa.

The intrusion of foreign technologies into the African farming set-up 
has also been blamed as a key trend sounding the death knell of 
indigenous knowledge.

These technologies promise short-term gains or solutions to problems 
without being able to sustain them, experts say. In this regard, they 
warn, indigenous knowledge systems are seen as inappropriate for new 
challenges and unnecessarily slow.

Mr James Ongwae, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Agriculture, 
contends that there is lack of consideration for local knowledge as 
technology from countries perceived as more advanced are seen as 
superior and appropriate, thereby overlooking local potentials, 
experiences and practices when it comes to finding solutions to 
agricultural challenges.

Today many indigenous knowledge systems in Kenya are at risk of 
becoming extinct. The tragedy of this impending disappearance of 
indigenous knowledge systems is most obvious to those who developed 
them and continue to make a living through them.

But the implications for others can be detrimental as well when 
skills, technologies and problem solving strategies are lost.

This has been generally attributed to rapidly changing environment as 
witnessed in the fast-paced economic, political and cultural changes 
in the global scale.

Biopiracy is fast becoming the major challenge to indigenous 
knowledge systems as the race to appropriate bio-resources is gaining 
ground every day.

Seed, medical plants, microbes and other forms of life are 
continuously becoming targets of intellectual property regimes that 
want to appropriate this free knowledge for commercial gain.

The sinkholes inherent in this impassioned commercial thrust can best 
be captured in light of the value that indigenous knowledge systems 
play in increasing the capacity of the people to manage change, 
minimise risks and develop appropriate technologies for a community’s 
continued existence.

Noteworthy, indigenous knowledge was never appropriated as private 
property. It was valued as common property, held in trust and 
communicated from one person to another.

Indigenous knowledge has contributed immensely to food security of 
many rural communities. In Western Kenya, for instance, people still 
rely on gathered vegetables, which normally sprout during the hunger 
months of March though to June just before the crops are ready.

These vegetables and termites have become the bridging foods during 
this tough period when generally there is nothing to eat.

Besides being cheap and durable, provision of shelter both for 
animals and humans using indigenous knowledge impacts positively on 
environmental protection.

Communities have mastered the use of different types of grass and 
trees in the construction of shelters. These trees and grasses, by 
their nature, are quick to mature and tend to resist the adverse 
weather conditions and harmful insects, information that has been 
gathered through communities’ experiences.

This has seen the deliberate conservation of these trees and grasses, 
leading to voluntary community environmental protection. Noteworthy, 
this wholesome balance has been plagued by the emergence of 
corporatisation of agriculture in Kenya.

It is a scenario that has seen a deliberate transformation of 
agriculture from a social activity and rural livelihood into a 
business enterprise whose main objective is profit.

According to WHO, over 30 years of green revolution has resulted in 
critical losses of biodiversity, dependence on agrochemicals and 
untold environmental damage.

The body notes that this is so despite proven, sustainable and 
economically viable alternatives to synthetic pesticides.

http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=31759