Meeting with Patricia Kameri-Mbote

On Tuesday I met with Patricia Kameri-Mbote, interim Dean at Strathmore University’s new law school here in Nairobi. My first encounter with her was at the University of Washington. She gave a presentation on Law, Gender and Agriculture in Kenya. I heard about this event at the last minute and went. At the end of her talk I asked her a question about Gates and AGRA and was unsatisfied with the answer. I emailed her the next day to see if we could meet and she agreed. Unfortunately, we were not able to connect while she was in Seattle. As soon as I found out I was going to Kenya, I contacted her to see if we could meet. She sent back a nice email saying yes, and we met on Tuesday.

I didn’t realize exactly who she is. It turns out she has overseen huge biotech projects in Africa and much more. She was a great source of information and we will meet again. She is going to take me on a tour of her friend’s organic farm in the city plus bring me a copy of her book, which is about intellectual property rights and GMOs (genetically modified organisms). She straddles the fence – pro-biotech and pro-organic. She is against the use of chemicals and cited examples of Kenyan farmers’ ability to produce enough organic matter. Contrary to what the Ministry of Agriculture said and a Program Officer at AGRA, Patricia believes Kenya does not have enough water to support a chemical intensive agriculture model. She admires and is friends with several of the folks in AGRA, is close to Monsanto and Syngenta, believes in GMOs but is concerned about the affects of Intellectual Property Rights and patent rights on small farmers, as well as other concerns. She believes that small farmers are not represented in the discussion of GMOs but need to be. When asked if farmers’ voices are heard in any of the agricultural development schemes she knows about, she said only one, the Ministry of Agriculture district officers are good about listening to the needs of the farmers and confirmed that none of the other schemes she knows of does adequate outreach to farmers. Although she knows many of the folks in AGRA, she is not very aware of what they are pushing. She said she trusts that they must being doing good work because of the people involved in the project. When I told her about the model AGRA is pushing, she seemed surprised and concerned and does not believe it to be sustainable, although, I only told her about the model being dependent on “improved seeds” that are in turn dependent on chemicals.

There is a lot more to say, but that is a simple summary. She was very pleasant and I feel very fortunate to have connected with her.