Kenyan agriculturist Su Kahumbu on the need for ‘pro-smallholder’ and ‘pro-soil’ policies

Su Kahumbu with John Njure, a small-scale Kenyan dairy farmer (photo credit: iCow).

TED Fellow Su Kahumbu is one of Kenya’s most authoritative and sustainable farmers. She is the brains behind two social enterprises: ‘Green Dreams TECH Ltd’, an organic farm and service connecting Kenya’s small-scale organic farmers with local markets, and an ingenious farmer education mobile service called ‘iCow’.

Here, in an opinion piece she published in the current issue of the Daily Nation newspaper’s ‘Seeds of Gold’ pull-out magazine, she takes issue with two new dairy and crop laws being considered by the Kenya government.

Harsh punitive regulations are being recommended including fines, jail terms and more for farmers who sell milk at the farm-gate level and use (raw) manure and harvested water to grow crops