Yes­ter­day, I sat down to enjoy a plate of fruits and veg­eta­bles, choos­ing a ‘healthy’ meal that’s meant to nour­ish. But then, a trou­bling thought crossed my mind. Kenya’s agri­cul­tur­al sec­tor is silent­ly grap­pling with a grow­ing cri­sis — the ram­pant use of haz­ardous pes­ti­cides. A 2023 report by the Route to Food Ini­tia­tive revealed that 76% of pes­ti­cides used here are clas­si­fied as High­ly Haz­ardous Pes­ti­cides (HHPs), with near­ly half con­tain­ing active ingre­di­ents banned in Europe for their health risks. These chem­i­cals are infil­trat­ing our farms, our food, and our bod­ies, pos­ing seri­ous dan­gers to both farm­ers and con­sumers alike. If this isn’t a cri­sis, then what is?

Farm­ers, often unaware of the tox­i­c­i­ty of these pes­ti­cides, risk their health dai­ly to increase yields and con­trol pests. With­out ade­quate pro­tec­tive gear or train­ing, they expose them­selves to chem­i­cals that can lead to severe res­pi­ra­to­ry, skin, and even neu­ro­log­i­cal con­di­tions. The Route to Food study demon­strat­ed how inap­pro­pri­ate han­dling and con­tin­u­al use of restrict­ed organochlo­rine pes­ti­cides pose short- and long-term adverse effects, becom­ing pub­lic health con­cerns in the African region.

Con­sumers face anoth­er hid­den risk — pes­ti­cide residues lin­ger­ing in pro­duce. For young chil­dren, the elder­ly, and vul­ner­a­ble pop­u­la­tions, every bite could car­ry long-term health consequences.

Beyond health impacts, Kenya’s econ­o­my too stands a huge risk. Hor­ti­cul­tur­al exports, which pro­vide valu­able for­eign rev­enue, have often been barred from the Euro­pean Union mar­kets where strin­gent reg­u­la­tions on pes­ti­cide residues are enforced. I gath­ered in var­i­ous reports includ­ing one by GIZ that in the last five years, near­ly 15% of our agri­cul­tur­al exports were turned away due to unac­cept­able pes­ti­cide levels.

This rejec­tion hits farm­ers hard and rip­ples through the econ­o­my, threat­en­ing jobs, growth, and Kenya’s rep­u­ta­tion as a trust­ed agri­cul­tur­al exporter — a blow that could sti­fle future oppor­tu­ni­ties globally.

The chal­lenge of man­ag­ing pes­ti­cide use has been fur­ther com­pli­cat­ed by unscrupu­lous busi­ness prac­tices that pri­or­i­tize prof­its over people’s lives. Pow­er­ful agro­chem­i­cal com­pa­nies and dis­trib­u­tors push these haz­ardous prod­ucts onto the mar­ket, exploit­ing the lack of strin­gent reg­u­la­tions and lim­it­ed over­sight to make a kill. The allure of high yields and huge prof­its also blind farm­ers to the long-term effects of these chem­i­cal and  the harm­ful con­se­quences to both peo­ple and the environment.

Painful­ly, the under­fund­ed Pest Con­trol Prod­ucts Board (PCPB), tasked with over­see­ing pes­ti­cide safe­ty, faces enforce­ment gaps, mis­in­for­ma­tion, and lim­it­ed pub­lic aware­ness, weak­en­ing Kenya’s reg­u­la­tion efforts. Reports reveal that banned or high­ly haz­ardous pes­ti­cides still reach farm­ers, slip­ping through an errat­ic, and pos­si­bly cor­rupt enforce­ment sys­tem. With insuf­fi­cient mon­i­tor­ing and ris­ing pub­lic out­cry, reg­u­la­to­ry bod­ies seem unable or unwill­ing to enforce stricter con­trols, allow­ing dan­ger­ous sub­stances to flow freely, with­out any accountability.

Thank­ful­ly, many solu­tions are with­in reach. For instance, as a prac­ti­tion­er of Green and Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Copen­hagen, I can state with author­i­ty that coun­tries like Den­mark and the Nether­lands have already pio­neered the path for­ward through Inte­grat­ed Pest Man­age­ment (IPM). By lever­ag­ing nat­ur­al pest con­trols and crop rota­tion, they’ve sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduced reliance on harm­ful chem­i­cals. Embrac­ing IPM in Kenya could rev­o­lu­tion­ize our agri­cul­ture, safe­guard­ing pub­lic health, strength­en­ing envi­ron­men­tal resilience, and restor­ing Kenya’s rep­u­ta­tion in glob­al mar­kets.  Pro­vid­ing farm­ers with safe prac­tices and rais­ing pub­lic aware­ness would empow­er every­one — from pro­duc­ers to con­sumers — to sup­port and choose sus­tain­able options.

We must act now, enforc­ing stronger reg­u­la­tions to phase out haz­ardous pes­ti­cides and close loop­holes that unscrupu­lous busi­ness­es exploit. The gov­ern­ment, work­ing with farm­ers, indus­try, and con­sumers, can build a future where the food on our plates tru­ly nour­ish­es us. Imag­ine reach­ing for a fresh man­go, know­ing it’s as safe as it is deli­cious. That is the future we must strive for. This is more than a call to action, it’s a plea to put peo­ple before prof­it, health before quick gains, and sus­tain­abil­i­ty before con­ve­nience, secur­ing Kenya’s health and nat­ur­al lega­cy for gen­er­a­tions to come. Think green, act green.