Residents in Kiambu County, Kenya have been urged to grow organic foods to avoid grappling with lifestyle diseases.
JungleNut CEO Patrick Wainaina asked the residents to practice organic farming to also protect their soil from being rendered unproductive by chemical fertilisers. He noted the increasing cases of lifestyle diseases in the region, including diabetes, hypertension and obesity are as a result of poor eating habits.
He said that most farmers have been growing genetically modified crops due to the change of rainfall pattern where most parts of the country have been receiving minimal rains. He further warned that the GMOs are the main cause of the increasing lifestyle diseases.
Agribusiness ventures
Mr. Wainaina observed that organic farming is slowly losing its grip in the region as most farmers have turned farming into agribusiness ventures while in total disregard of their health.
“Most people have become business-oriented and no longer care about the quality but the quantity of their produce. Farmers must rethink their decision to grow GMOs. We must go back to the indigenous foods our forefathers used to grow and eat,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by Kenya Institute of Organic Farming principal John Wanjau who said that organic farming is cheap and helps integrate all types of farming, ensuring maximum utilisation of the available land.
“Organic farming is economical and manageable and assures high yields. Farmers should rely on natural processes, compost manure and biological pest control methods to boost soil fertility or manage pests and diseases,” he said.
Organic agriculture enables farmers to boost yields using locally available environment resources or additional low-cost biological inputs and offers a sustainable farming approach to most small scale farmers.
