Kenya’s High court has ruled that sharing local seeds is not a crime, a judgement that has been hailed as a victory for small holder farmers and climate justice. For many decades, Kenyan farmers risked threat of two years imprisonment or upto ksh 1 million fine for selling or sharing unregistered seeds,but the judgement dismantled that monopoly.

A group of 15 farmers filed the case and was supported by Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya (BIBA), Greenpeace Africa and Seed Savers Network. They challenged the banned sharing or use of uncertified local seeds which barred local farmers from using seeds that have been cultivated over years. Smallholder farmer Samuel Wathome, who petitioned as the first in the case welcomed the victory saying,

‘I have waited years to hear these words. My grandmother saved seeds, and today the

court has said I can do the same for my grandchildren without fear of police or prison.

Today, the farmer is king again.’

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Gideon Muya, Programs Officer, Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya, on Sharing Local Seeds Said:

“This judgment is a shield for our biodiversity. Indigenous seeds are the library of life –

they hold the genetic diversity we need to withstand droughts, pests, and a changing

climate. The court has recognised that you cannot patent nature’s heritage. We have

reclaimed the right to choose what we plant and what we eat, free from the coercion of

commercial seed monopolies.”

Elizabeth Atieno, Food Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, said:

“Today, the shackles have been removed from Kenya’s farmers. The court has affirmed

what we have known all along: Seed is Sovereign. This is not just a legal win; it is a

victory for our culture, our resilience, and our future. By validating indigenous seeds, the

court has struck a blow against the corporate capture of our food system. We can finally say that in Kenya, feeding your community with climate-resilient, locally adapted seeds

is no longer a crime.”

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Claire Nasike, Agroecologist, said:

Today’s judgment indicates that farmers’ right to seed must be recognised and

protected through policy instruments. Seed is life, and it is sovereign, and whoever

controls it influences the lifeline of a generation. It is a delight that the right to save,

share and exchange seeds is in the right hands, those of Kenyan farmers.

In her judgment, Justice Rhoda Rutto declared unconstitutional sections of the Act

which gave seed inspectors sweeping powers to raid seed banks and seize seeds

meant for the next harvest, made it illegal for farmers to process or sell seeds unless

they were registered seed merchants, gave extensive proprietary rights to plant

breeders and none to farmers, and made it illegal for farmers to save or share seeds

from their harvest without prior knowlege of seed proprietors.

Wambugu Wanjohi, Legal Counsel for the Law Society of Kenya which supported

the petition, said:

‘The court has correctly interpreted the Constitution to find that the rights of farmers

supersede punitive and restrictive commercially driven laws that infringe on their

inherent rights. This judgment sets a powerful legal precedent not only for Kenya but

also for the entire African continent.

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Following the ruling Green Peace Africa and other advocacy groups have urged the Ministry of Agriculture to align Kenya’s policy with the judgement and to include the Farmer-Managed Seed Systems into the country’s agricultural framework.