Agriculture CS Kagwe declares ban on dozens of dangerous pesticides
Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has announced a sweeping nationwide ban on the importation of over 50 pesticide products deemed harmful to human health and the environment.
The banned pesticides, he revealed, are products that have already been outlawed in their countries of origin.
Speaking in Molo, Nakuru County, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, Kagwe stated that the ban follows a recommendation by the Pest Control Products Board (PCPB), which provided a list of chemical products that Kenya has been importing to control pests.
“Officials from PCPB have brought me a list of chemical products that we’ve been importing from abroad to control pests. They’ve informed me that over 50 of these products are harmful, and we are going to stop importing them. Instead, we will manufacture the necessary pesticides locally here in Kenya,” he said.
The CS assured farmers that the ban would not create a gap in pest control products, noting that the local market will now be the main supplier.
“So, your market is no longer in Europe. It is here in Kenya,” he added, stressing the need for local production to meet agricultural needs.
He also used the occasion to call for the revitalisation of pyrethrum farming, a once-thriving sector in Kenya. Kagwe lamented that while the country used to plant up to 70,000 acres of pyrethrum, current production has dropped significantly to just 10,000 acres.
“We want to reverse that trend and increase the acreage once again so that Kenya can reclaim its place as the number one producer of pyrethrum in the world,” he urged.
The announcement is part of broader efforts by the Ministry of Agriculture to protect Kenyan farmers and consumers from harmful chemicals while promoting homegrown solutions and sustainable farming practices.
Agriculture police
The ban announcement follows closely on the heels of Kagwe’s declaration that plans are underway to establish an agricultural police unit, aimed at safeguarding private tea plantations and factories from invasions and tackling other agriculture-related offences.
“We have a tourist police unit; we also have an ICT police unit. If you tell a person who has been chasing a gun-runner in Githurai to now come and deal with somebody who has invaded land, that mind-set is completely different. When you tell somebody that there is fake fertiliser being sold somewhere, it’s also a different mind-set. This is why there is a discussion to form the unit,” he explained.
Speaking during a high-level consultative meeting at the East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA) auditorium in Mombasa, Kagwe vowed to dismantle the cartels fuelling the illegal trade called hawking.
The CS questioned how individuals without tea farms manage to supply tea to factories.
“If you don’t have tea on your farm, where did you get the tea you’re selling? The first step to stopping theft is eliminating the market for stolen tea,” he said.
Kagwe likened the situation to the theft of car cassette players, which became obsolete when all cars came equipped with them.
According to Kagwe, tea stolen in the middle of the night is improperly harvested and thereby compromises Kenya’s global reputation.
“ People cut entire branches, ruining the leaf quality. When such tea reaches the auction, it’s impossible to trace which farmer is responsible,” he added.
Following deliberations at the EATTA meeting, the ministry resolved that all tea producers must adhere to Kenya’s green leaf quality standards. The government will also publish a national quality standard.
