Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has called for urgent global action to eliminate hazardous agricultural chemicals used in crop production.
Kagwe has also urged for an end to a longstanding double standard that exposes farmers in developing countries to substances banned elsewhere due to health and environmental risks.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) General Assembly in Nairobi, Kagwe challenged governments, regulators, manufacturers and international organisations to harmonise global standards governing agricultural chemicals and place the welfare of farmers at the centre of agricultural policy and investment.
“The world cannot continue operating under a double standard when it comes to agricultural chemicals,” said Kagwe.
“If a pesticide is considered unsafe for use in one country because it poses unacceptable risks to human health or the environment, it should not find a market elsewhere simply because farmers are poorer or regulations are weaker.”
Addressing delegates drawn from across the world, including leaders of farmers’ organisations, development partners, agribusiness leaders and policymakers, the Cabinet Secretary argued that the lives and health of farmers in developing countries must be accorded the same value as those in developed economies.
“The life of an African farmer is not worth less than the life of a farmer in other parts of the world. The health of consumers in developing countries matters just as much as the health of consumers anywhere else in the world,” he said.
He warned that unsafe agricultural chemicals and counterfeit farm inputs continue to pose a major threat to food safety, public health, environmental sustainability and access to international markets.
He called for stronger collaboration among governments, regulators, traders, manufacturers and farmers to combat the illegal trafficking, counterfeiting and misuse of agricultural inputs.
“Unsafe chemicals entering our markets through informal channels undermine public confidence, threaten export markets and expose farming communities to unnecessary risks,” he noted.
Kagwe emphasized that protecting farmers must go beyond increasing productivity and market access to include safeguarding their health and wellbeing.
“Food safety begins at the farm. Consumer confidence begins at the farm. Public health begins at the farm. Therefore, protecting farmers must begin with protecting their health,” he said.
The remarks formed part of a broader address in which he urged the international community to rethink agricultural development by placing farmers—not merely food systems—at the centre of global policy discussions.
He observed that while conversations on food security, climate adaptation, financing and agricultural productivity have intensified globally, insufficient attention has been paid to the welfare, dignity and prosperity of farmers themselves.
“The farmer has become the missing centre in discussions about agriculture. This Assembly must therefore be about more than food systems. It must be about the people who sustain those food systems,” he said.
Kagwe also challenged long-standing inequalities within global agriculture, noting that farmers in developed countries continue to benefit from extensive public support while smallholder farmers in developing nations are often expected to compete in the same markets with limited assistance.
He argued that investment in farmers should be viewed not as a cost but as a strategic investment in national stability, economic growth and food security.
The Cabinet Secretary further called for reforms in agricultural financing, urging financial institutions to develop products tailored to agricultural realities, including crop cycles, climatic risks and long-term investment horizons.
At the same time, he highlighted Kenya’s ongoing efforts to modernise agriculture through technology and data-driven systems, citing the Kenya Integrated Agricultural Management Information System (KIAMIS) as a key tool in improving service delivery, digital subsidies, traceability and planning.
Kagwe emphasized that technology must be used to empower farmers rather than replace them, and urged researchers to ensure innovations move beyond laboratories and academic journals to deliver practical solutions at the farm level.
As delegates begin deliberations at the World Farmers’ Organisation General Assembly, Kagwe challenged global leaders to ensure that every policy, investment and recommendation emerging from the conference is guided by one principle: putting farmers first.
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