<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><a href="https://www.bilaterals.org/?smallholder-farmers-group-wants-us" class="">https://www.bilaterals.org/?smallholder-farmers-group-wants-us</a></div><header class=""><h1 class="">Smallholder farmers group wants US-Kenya trade deal stopped</h1>
</header><p class="article-image"><strong class="">Smallholder farmers group wants U.S-Kenya trade deal stopped</strong></p><p class="">Capital Business | 14th April 2023</p><p class="">By Kevin Rotich</p><p class="">The Kenya Small Scale Farmers Forum (KESSFF) is asking the Kenyan
government to halt ongoing trade negotiations with the United States,
saying the deal favors America and that they have not been involved.</p><p class="">Kenya and the US are engaged in a trade agreement under the Strategic
Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP), whose next round of
negotiations will be on Monday.</p><p class="">STIP seeks to replace the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), which will be expiring in less than two years.</p><p class="">Small farmers argue that they have not been involved in the negotiations, yet the deal will heavily impact local farmers.</p><p class="">Contrary to what it says, American stakeholders in the agri-sector
have been involved in the entire process through the United States Trade
Representative (USTR).</p><p class="">“We are particularly concerned with the agricultural chapter being
opened for negotiations with the American government,” KESSFF said in a
statement.</p><p class="">“We note that an agreement between a developing country like Kenya
and a country that is one of the top agricultural exporters in the world
is likely to have a significant impact on Kenya.”</p><p class="">The forum gave an example where Mexican farmers were impacted after signing an agricultural export deal with Washington.</p><p class="">“Studies on the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) on the agricultural sector in Mexico show that NAFTA destroyed
Mexico’s agricultural sector, flooded Mexico with cheap agricultural
imports, and led to the displacement of two million farmers!” the lobby
said.</p><p class="">“The result is an uneven playing field that leaves poor farmers in
poorer countries worse off while large agribusinesses reap the benefits
of agricultural trade liberalization,” it added.</p><p class="">This comes after the not-for-profit organization Econews Africa (ENA)
also challenged the negotiation for lacking public participation.</p><p class="">“We remain committed to feeding this country and wish to remind the
country that small scale farmers account for over 40 percent of
employment in the country and employ as high as 70 percent of the
population in the rural areas,” KESSFF stated.</p><p class="">“We will not be an afterthought in the trade negotiations by this government!”</p><div class="">
Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">
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