Food at All Costs? : Investigating attitudes towards genetically modified crops among small-scale farmers in western Kenya

Abstract: The international debate on genetically modified crops as a means of ending world hunger is characterised by the polemic between environmental organisations and the biotechnology industry. In African developing countries, the much-needed increase in agricultural productivity could potentially be reached through commercialisation of GMOs, but the findings of this study show that consumer acceptance among small-scale farmers in western Kenya is low. The farmers are not shown to have been influenced directly by NGO advocacy on a local level, but their attitudes are likely swayed by the negative climate of the national debate on GMOs in Kenya. The results also indicate that small-scale farmers do not support environmentalist attitudes, making NGO advocacy and European foreign aid policies potentially misguided in their attempts to promote organic farming principles.