This archive report was first published on 26 July 2019.
On July 26, 2019, the World Food Preservation Centre (WFPC), IFOAM Organics International, Biovision Africa Trust, and their local and international partners hosted the first International Conference on Agroecology at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.
The conference, which attracted over 500 participants from across the world, aimed to promote organic and non-GMO farming in Africa to establish sustainable food and agriculture systems.
However, the event turned out to be an anti-science convention, with speakers declaring that the end of the world was nigh unless synthetic chemicals were stopped.
Keynote speakers, including Prof Ratemo Michieka from Kenya and Prof Tyrone Hayes and Prof Don Huber from Purdue University, touted organic farming as the only way to reach the 'Promised Land.'
But most real scientists have declared glyphosate safe for use as a pesticide, and there is only one study that concludes that glyphosate may cause cancer, many others don't.
Using the US jury decision to call for a glyphosate ban is also rather desperate, as the jurists were not scientists and the US jury system is highly discredited.
Independent science-based regulatory agencies around the world have comprehensively evaluated glyphosate-based herbicides and found them safe to use in accordance with label directions.
Reputable scientists in Kenya have also backed the continued use of glyphosate-based products, insisting that they have no undue health risks, including cancer, to the Kenyan public.
Prof Michieka, the secretary of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences, said, 'To produce sufficient food for our rapidly growing population and achieve zero hunger and malnutrition, an aspiration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), we have no choice but to use pesticides, which should be used safely and responsibly.'
Top scientists who spoke in support of Prof Michieka's position included Dr Moses Rugutt, the director-general of the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation, Pest Control Products Board CEO Peter Opiyo, and Dr Eric Eshitera of Maasai Mara University.
