The month of September, 2024, is here and almost gone. Among other highlights, it’s the month when the editor of this blog articles turns the page: Happy Birthday!

• It has been a decade of researching and penning down, often struggling on what to prioritize and share regarding this unending battle between conventional agriculture proponents and agroecological agriculture proponents. Needless to state the author belongs to the later grouping and hence why the title of this month’s blog article is ‘The fight for Seed Sovereignty erupts under the guise of toxic Pesticides and their link to Cancers…guess who is behind this!

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• All along we,(the advocates and activists) assumed that all was ‘fair game’ and that it was all about creating awareness among stakeholders, especially among farmers and consumers, to enable them make informed choices on whether to use pesticides and practice conventional farming which promotes use of synthetic pesticides and patented hybrid seeds(including GMOs!) or to embrace the alternative farming system aka agroecological regenerative farming systems which advocates for the promotion, protection and preservation of indigenous or traditional seeds and the diversity thereof.

• Unlike the patented hybrid seeds which are often expensive and unaffordable, the indigenous seed varieties are ‘not of sale’. These seeds have sustained people’s food needs, over millennia without the use of newly introduced synthetic pesticides (made from petrochemicals and left overs of the war industry!) and owned by monopoly corporations, like Monsanto-Bayer and Syngenta, among others.

• Recent developments related to new restrictive agricultural policies, in Kenya and other African countries point to disturbing revelations that the opponents of non-synthetic pesticides farming (agroecological organic farming) are not just Big Agric industry but also the involvement of agricultural agencies of the USA government!

• Here below is rather disturbing evidence as captured in several publications including The Guardian; https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/26/government-funded-social-network-attacking-pesticide-critics

• More evidence from Lighthouse Reports, now all over Instagram and other social media platforms: https://www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/poison-pr/#:~:text

• As way forward, to counter this unfair character assassination and defamatory smear campaign that has been targeted at the messenger(some of us) rather than the message, some bold and enlightened policy makers are taking steps in the right direction to promote, protect and preserve indigenous-traditional seeds to safeguard our food independence and food sovereignty, in Africa: Have a listen to this eloquent presentation by a Ugandan Parliamentarian: Other Parliamentarians in African countries should borrow a leaf and safeguard African Seed varieties:

• After reading, listening and watching these shocking revealations, you know why scientific evidence and the truthful representation of findings to farmers and consumers is no longer the criteria which determines what is inputs go into your soil as farm inputs; these include seeds, herbicides, fertilizers and pesticides.

• Eventually these toxic pesticide residues are part of what you consume…they have been scientifically linked to cancers and other chronic conditions like Parkinsons disease and Alzheimer’s disease, among other chronic diseases:

• Apparently, it is a political agenda… is about Control, Power and Profits!

Thank you for reading and for your continued patronage. Let us connect next month⯑