Kenya: Food Control Agency Folu Pushes for Sustainable Strategies in Addressing Food Sustainability

Nairobi — The Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU) has called for sustainable development and climate change mitigation strategies in implementing the Kenya Food and Land Use Action Plan for 2023-2028.

The coalition is a global partnership that brings together businesses, governments, civil society, and researchers to transform the world’s food and land use systems.

During the workshop, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN Kenya) Head of Policy Charles Opiyo mentioned that working in synergy will ensure the implementation of ensuring urgent actions taken to address the biodiversity crisis and build resilient food systems.

“To move towards a sustainable food and land use system in Africa and Kenya, there is a need to develop clear action plans, robust monitoring and coordination framework and track them through the implementation period,” said Opiyo.

Jeremiah Rogito, FOLU Kenya secretariat, applauded the work that stakeholders in the Food and Land Use Coalition have done in prioritizing sectors that lead to food sustainability.

“We are happy that you have prioritized five critical transitions (Healthy diets, productive and regenerative agriculture, protecting and restoring nature, gender and demographics and food loss and waste) to enable a shift to a sustainable food and land use system and restore the losses in biodiversity,” said Rogito.

Laban Kiplagat, the Director for Land and Environment in the State Department of Crop Development and Agricultural Research said the Kenya Food and Land Use Action Plan for 2023-2028 in addressing systemic challenges in the food systems.

Kiplagat noted that the action plan is in line with the government’s Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda of ensuring we achieve food and nutritional security.

“I applaud FOLU Kenya for supporting this initiative at a time when food systems are in a critical state; we need stronger partnerships now more than ever,”he stated.

The workshop brought experts from diverse backgrounds to discuss the critical transitions needed to move from agreements to action and address the global challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change, and food insecurity.

It also highlighted the importance of collaboration between diverse stakeholders to achieve meaningful impact.

Participants recognized the need for collective action and the role of governments, businesses, and civil society in driving the transformation needed for sustainable food and land use systems to build back biodiversity loss.

Over 35 percent of our food crops are lost to plant stress caused by pests and diseases annually. This has a direct, negative, effect on food and nutritional security and our production systems making them highly vulnerable.

Climate change and human activities further exacerbate plant health challenges that lead to ecosystem changes and damaging biodiversity that create new niches for pests.