Good News Network · 12 hours ago

Seed-Sharing No Longer Illegal After Landmark Kenya Court Ruling Against Global Seed Monopolists

Kenya's highest court has ruled that farmers may freely share and exchange seeds again, striking down a 2016 law that had criminalized an ancient practice central to their cultural identity and food security. The law had created a system where only large international seed companies could afford compliance, making criminals of small-scale farmers who "simply took the seeds that fell from their property (crops), onto their property (farmland), and gave them to another farmer." Justice Rhoda Rutto found that limiting access to traditional seeds violated the constitutional rights of indigenous peoples and small-scale farmers who produce 80% of Kenya's food. The ruling affirms that generations of knowledge about drought-resistant, locally adapted crops cannot be subordinated to corporate monopolies -- a principle with implications far beyond Kenya's borders.