• The farmers behind a legal petition case that is demanding for legal recognition and protection of Farmer Managed Seed Systems (FMSS) and the restoration of farmers' fundamental rights, are looking forward to a favorable verdict on May 20, 2025 at High Court in Machakos, Constitutional and Human Rights Division.

Seed Savers Network Kenya (SSNK) organised a media workshop on May 16, 2025, in Gilgil that brought together journalists from various counties across the country including Nakuru, Machakos and Nairobi to sensitize on the upcoming farmers petition in court that oppose the Seeds and Plant Varieties Act, which makes it illegal to trade or sell seeds created by farmers.

Addressing the journalists at Seed Savers Network during the media workshop, Seed Savers Network Director Mr. Daniel Wanjama emphasized the importance of supporting the farmers with covering the Petition.

“I believe the majority of Kenyans are farmers therefore it is not right to be criminalized on what the farmers tend to do with their seeds,” said Wanjama.

About 15 smallholder farmers petitioned the High Court in July 2022, requesting that the government examine the provisions of the law that prohibit the sharing and exchange of unregistered and uncertified seeds.

The farmers behind a legal petition case that is demanding for legal recognition and protection of Farmer Managed Seed Systems (FMSS) and the restoration of farmers' fundamental rights, are looking forward to a favorable verdict on May 20, 2025 at High Court in Machakos, Constitutional and Human Rights Division.

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According to Wanjama, saving and sharing seeds among communities has been traditionally practiced but the Kenyan legal framework undermines the farmers which can push to extinction of seeds or some seeds could be forgotten.

“This is a call for farmer’s liberation. If farmers can use their own seed, they can reduce the cost because they will use what they have without buying seeds and the traditional seeds are resilient to climate,” he said.

Beatrice Wangui who is one of the petitioners and a beneficially from Seed Savers Network agroecology training remains hopeful about the petition hearing hoping that their plea will be considered.

Seed Savers Network, Greenpeace Africa and BIBA Kenya have been in the frontline in supporting farmers' seed petitions by advocating for farmers' right to save, share and use their own seeds.

“In July 2022, 15 small scale farmers filed a petition at high court seeking to compel the government to review sections of law that bans the sharing and exchange of uncertified and unregistered seed. But the hearing kept being postponed following procedural delays and pending supplementary affidavits.”

In 1972, Seed and Plant Varieties Act (SPVA) was passed to regulate the seed sector in Kenya. In 2012 and 2016, significant amendments were introduced to align Kenya's laws with the 1991 International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV 1991).

These changes reinforced intellectual property protections for commercial breeders, introduced stricter certification requirements, and expanded the regulatory authority of KEPHIS.