acknowledged by Unesco in 2021,<\/a> when the UN cultural agency commended the East African nation for the \u201csafeguarding of intangible cultural heritage\u201d that had been threatened by \u201chistorical factors and the pressures of modern lifestyles\u201d.<\/p>\nIt noted that Kenya had begun a project in 2007 involving scientists and local communities to record an inventory of traditional foods, which now includes 850 indigenous plants and their local names.<\/p>\n
Some of these vegetables are eaten nationwide, while others are specific to certain areas or communities.<\/p>\n
But sukumawiki, first introduced to Kenya from the Mediterranean as animal feed, is still favoured by many farmers \u2013 with more than 700,000 tonnes produced in 2023 \u2013 more than double the volume of all indigenous leafy vegetables combined.<\/p>\n
Francis Ngiri, who used to farm in Kirinyaga in central Kenya where cabbages are a mainstay crop, explains that this is because, especially during the 1970s, those growing imported leafy vegetables used fertilisers and pesticides that damaged the local biodiversity.<\/p>\n
Today, he tells the BBC, only the introduced varieties thrive as the soil has become too acidic to support many native species.<\/p>\n
Determined to do something so they would not be lost forever, Mr Ngiri moved his operation to Kenya\u2019s Rift Valley \u2013 an area he considers relatively untouched by chemical contamination \u2013 so he could practise organic farming of indigenous crops.<\/p>\n
On a four-acre (1.6 hectare) farm in Elementaita, he began with 14 native varieties in 2016. Today that has grown to 124, many of which he has sourced through seed exchanges with fellow farmers. His farm now draws visitors from across Kenya and neighbouring countries.<\/p>\n
They come to see how he collaborates with 800 other regional farmers, who also grow organic food for local markets, to preserve and regenerate \u201cforgotten plants\u201d, ensuring their genetic diversity is safeguarded for future generations.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless by swapping seeds, Mr Ngiri and his colleagues are actually breaking the law as the government only allows the planting of certified seeds.<\/p>\n
This controversial law was introduced in 2012 with the intention of protecting farmers from purchasing poor quality seeds.<\/p>\n
Wambui Wakahiu, who trains farmers on seed conservation, says such policies do not support efforts to save indigenous crop varieties, as their seeds are not available in farm-supply shops.<\/p>\n
She works for Seed Savers Network, a non-governmental organisation with 400,000 members, which helps establish seed banks for farmers to safely store and preserve their local seeds.<\/p>\n
Her team found that more than 35 traditional plant varieties had been \u201ccompletely lost\u201d in one county alone because of the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf [the farmers] focus more on the exotic [foreign] seeds, then the traditional seeds continue going away. And we have seen most of them go extinct,\u201d she tells the BBC.<\/p>\n
Mr Ngiri and others who have been exchanging seeds have not been pursued by the authorities, but he says the law does prevent them from marketing them: \u201cIf I can\u2019t sell the seed, I don\u2019t own it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And getting certification is a rigorous, costly process, as seeds need to be tested in a laboratory for their purity and things like how well they germinate.<\/p>\n
Dr Peterson Wambugu, a chief research scientist with the national gene bank at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro), acknowledges that under the current law, the exchanging and sale of uncertified seeds \u2013 including those saved by farmers \u2013 is criminalised.<\/p>\n
However, he points out that this is at odds with the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, of which Kenya is a signatory, as it sets out farmers\u2019 rights to save, use and exchange their seeds.<\/p>\n
The national gene bank has been working with other groups to draft regulations through the agriculture ministry to align Kenyan law with the treaty.<\/p>\n
The proposals, once passed by parliament, will allow farmers to exchange their seeds \u201cwithout fearing that what they are doing is criminal\u201d, he tells the BBC.<\/p>\n
However, the selling of such seeds would still remain outlawed \u2013 something Dr Wambugu knows means the journey to full acceptance of indigenous crops continues.<\/p>\n
For Priscilla Njeri, a vegetable vendor in the bustling Wangige market in Kiambu county just outside Nairobi, there is no turning back, as she can see first-hand that indigenous greens are now the most popular with her customers \u2013 something she puts down to the media campaigns that promote them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most preferred are managu, terere and kanzira [African kale] \u2013 which is popular for those who have sensitive stomachs as it has no gas,\u201d she tells the BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut all the kienyeji greens are good because they have a better taste.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Once dismissed as wild weeds and a \u201cpoor man\u2019s food\u201d, indigenous leafy vegetables in Kenya are now becoming much more common \u2013 grown on farms, sold in markets and gracing the menus of restaurants. At the busy Skinners Restaurant in Gachie just outside the capital, Nairobi, one employee says demand for \u201ckienyeji\u201d \u2013 as all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}