The High Court has struck down key provisions of the Seed and Plant Varieties Act, reshaping the regulatory landscape that has governed how farmers save, exchange, and market indigenous seed varieties for more than a decade.
- •The ruling missed by Justice Rhoda Rutto removes long-standing restrictions that had criminalized the informal seed economy, a sector that underpins food production for a majority of the country’s small-scale farmers.
- •The decision targets sections of the 2012 law that imposed fines and potential jail terms on farmers who saved uncertified seed or exchanged it outside the commercial seed market.
- •Regulators had argued the framework was necessary to safeguard seed quality, protect breeders’ rights, and raise yields through greater formalization.
The court found instead that the law created an uneven regime that elevated the interests of commercial seed companies while limiting the autonomy of farmers who rely on traditional seed systems adapted over generations to local climate conditions.
“The current seed laws have already marginalised indigenous and small-scale farmers through restrictive policies now under court challenge, toward dependency and corporate control, sidelining traditional seed systems and threatening food sovereignty,” said Elizabeth Atieno, Food Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa.
Under the law, farmers were prohibited from processing or selling seed unless licensed as formal seed merchants. Inspectors were granted broad powers to seize unregistered seed stocks and disrupt community seed banks.
Breeders’ rights were bolstered through expansive proprietary protections, and farmers were legally obligated to seek authorization before replanting seed harvested from protected varieties.
The court ruled that these measures were overly restrictive and inconsistent with constitutional protections for livelihood, property, and cultural practices.
“‘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,” said Samuel Wathome, a smallholder farmer who had petitioned against the act.
The law has seen additional provisions proposed this year by Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina. The amendment bill, still under parliamentary review, would establish a parallel standards-based registration system and shift parts of the approval process from KEPHIS to the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
The decision effectively restores the informal networks that supply more than half of Kenya’s seed market, a system built on saved heritage varieties often favored for drought tolerance and pest resistance.
The ruling also shifts the balance of power within Kenya’s agricultural sector, reducing the dominance of commercial seed developers who have sought to expand certified seed adoption amid rising climate pressures and tighter global regulatory standards.
