Why forgotten indigenous vegetables of Kenya prove culinary blow

Once the wild weeds and “food for the poor man” is released, indigenous leafy vegetables in Kenya become much more common – grown on farms sold in the markets and decorate the restaurants menu.

At the lively Skinners restaurant near the capital, Nairobi says one employee says that the demand for “Kienyyeji” – as all the local varieties of vegetables – is higher than for other greens.

“Many are asking Kiniji when they come here,” says BBC Kimani NG’ang, despite the fact that the restaurant charges them further because he says they are more difficult.

Vegetables such as cabbage, spinach, cabbage and spring greens, introduced by the colonial authorities until the 1960s, are more affordable and cheaper. Spring greens are known as “succum”, which means “stretching the week” in Kisahili, which reflects how they became a daily product.

But snacks in the hitch are part of the growing waves of Kenyans who see the benefits of eating local, organically made nutritional varieties.

“This is a body detox and a good weight loss,” says James Vatir, who ordered the Manag – or African night size.

Another person said to me, “It’s all about his taste that is better.”

According to Professor of Horticulture, Mary Shoe Shoe-Anionga, this trend is displayed on state data, and some health benefits are supported by research.

Over the past 10 years, local greenery production has doubled – 300,000 tons received by local farmers last year.

This is a great change in views, given that people used to look at traditional cultures as inferior – not realizing that they are often more resistant to diseases and pests, that is, they can be organically grown.

In the 1980s, when prof.

“We never learned about African indigenous vegetables. They called the Amaranth” Pigweed “(and) spider plant, they called it a” spider weed, “she says BBC.

Her postgraduate studies on traditional plants were also difficult, because there was no literature about them, but she insisted and now works with the government to promote them for food security.

She says that a manure and other local vegetables such as “Mrenda” (Jut -Malva) and “Tererere” (amaranth) have more important minerals than succumov, as well as “higher level of vitamin A and C (and) antioxidants” that increase immunity and reduce the risk of illness.

Some varieties also contain protein, making them a great option for vegetarians. For example, it notes that 100 g (3.5 ounces) Mrenda – known for its distinctive mucous texture when cooking – contains more nutrients than a similar part of ordinary cabbage.

Progress as prof. recognized by UNESCO in 2021, When the UN Cultural Agency praised the Eastern African nation for the “preservation of the intangible cultural heritage”, which was threatened with “historical factors and the pressure of modern lifestyles”.

It noted that Kenya launched a project in 2007 with the participation of scientists and local communities to record the inventory of traditional food, which includes 850 indigenous plants and their local names.

Some of these vegetables are eaten across the country and others are characteristic of certain areas and communities.

But Sukumawiki, for the first time presented in Kenya with the Mediterranean as animal feed, still contributes to many farmers – with more than 700,000 tons made in 2023 – more than twice as much of all indigenous leaf vegetables in combination.

Francis Nigir, who previously engaged in farming in Cyrus in Central Kenya, where the cabbage is the basis of the crop, explains that it is because, especially in the 1970s, those who grow imported leafy vegetables used fertilizers and pesticides that damaged local biology.

Today, it tells the BBC, only the introduced varieties bloom when the soil has become too acidic to maintain many relatives.

It is decisive to do something, so that they are not lost forever, Mr. Nigir translated into the reef -doline Kenya -an area he considers relatively untouched chemical pollution -so that he can practice organic farming.

On a farm of four acres (1.6 hectares) in Elementaita it started with 14 local varieties in 2016. Today, which has grown to 124, many of which he went through the exchange of seeds with fellow farms. Now his farm attracts visitors from all over Kenya and neighboring countries.

They come to see how it collaborates with 800 other regional farmers, which also grow organic food for local markets to preserve and restore “forgotten plants”, providing protection of their genetic diversity for the next generations.

However, changing the seeds, Mr. Nigir and his colleagues actually violate the law because the government allows you to plant certified seeds.

This contradictory law was made in 2012 with the intention of protecting farmers from the acquisition of poor seed quality.

Wakahiu, Wakahiu, who prepares farmers to preserve seeds, says that such a policy does not support the efforts to save the indigenous crop because their seeds are not available in farms.

It works on the Seed Savers network, a non -governmental organization of 400,000 members, which helps create seed banks for farmers safely store and maintain their local seeds.

Her team found that more than 35 traditional plant varieties were “completely lost” in only one county.

“If (farmers) focus more on exotic (foreign) seeds, then traditional seeds continue to leave. And we have seen most of them extinct,” she says BBC.

Mr. Nigir and others who exchanged seeds were not conducted by the authorities, but he says the law prevents them from spending them: “If I cannot sell the seeds, I do not own it.”

And receiving certification is a strict, expensive process, because the seeds should be carried out in the laboratory for their cleanliness and things such as how well they germinate.

D -rescu Peterson Vajbuga, Chief Researcher at the National Bank of Gene in Agricultural and Livestock Organization (Kalro), acknowledges that in accordance with the current law, exchange and sale of non -certified seeds – including those who are rescued by farmers – criminal.

However, he emphasizes that this disagrees with the international agreement on the genetic resources of plants for food and agriculture, from which Kenya is a signatorial because it teaches farmers’ rights to save, use and exchange of seeds.

The National Gene Bank cooperates with other groups to develop rules through the Ministry of Agriculture to coordinate the Kenyan law with the treaty.

The proposals that have taken place in the parliament will allow farmers to exchange their seeds, “without fear of what they are doing is criminal,” he says BBC.

However, the sale of such seeds will still remain forbidden – what Dr. Vajbuga knows, means traveling to the complete acceptance of indigenous crops.

For the njeri, a vegetable supplier on a busy Vangige market in the Kiambi district near Nairobi, there is no turn back, as it sees firsthand that the indigenous greens are now most popular in its clients – what it is invested in the media that promotes them.

“The most preferred – manner, Turrer and Kansir (African cabbage) – which is popular for those who have sensitive stomachs because it has no gas,” she says BBC.

“But all the greens are good because they have the best taste.”