Why Kenya’s Forgotten Indigenous Vegetables Prove the Hot To Cooking

Once considered wild weeds and “food for the poor,” Kenya’s indigenous leafy greens are becoming increasingly common – growing on farms, for sale on the market, and offering restaurants for the menus of restaurants.

At the busy Skinner restaurant in Gachie outside the capital Nairobi, an employee said the demand for “Kienyeji” – because all local vegetable varieties are known – is higher than other vegetables.

Kimani ng’ang’a told the BBC: “Many people come here and ask them to come here.

Vegetables introduced by colonial authorities before the 1960s, spinach, kale and spring green vegetables are easier to obtain and cheaper. The spring green is called “sukumawiki”, meaning “extended week” in Swahili, reflecting how they become daily staples.

But Gach’s diners are part of a growing wave of Kenyans, seeing the benefits of eating local, organically nutritious varieties of vegetable.

“It detoxifies the body and loses weight,” James Wathiru said.

Another person told me: “It’s all about its taste, and it’s better.”

According to horticulture professor Mary Abukutsa-onyango, this trend is reflected in government data, with some health benefits supported by research.

She said that over the past decade, local green production has doubled – 300,000 tons were produced by local farmers last year.

Given that people once watched traditional crops as inferior traditional crops, this is a significant change in attitude – not realizing that they are generally more resistant to diseases and pests, which means they can be grown organically.

In the 1980s, when Professor Abukutsa-onyango began to study, she said she was confused and found that they were called “weeds.”

“We never knew about Aboriginal African vegetables. They called Amaras ‘pikeweed’ (and) spider plants, they called it ‘spider weed’.”

Her graduate research on traditional plants is also tricky because they don’t have literature on them, but she persists and now works with the government to promote food security.

She said that management and other local vegetables like “Mrenda” (Jute Mallow) and “Terrere” (Amaranth) have more essential minerals, as well as “higher vitamins A and C (and) antioxidants” that boost immunity and reduce disease risk compared to Sukumawiki.

Some varieties also contain protein, making it a great choice for vegetarians. She noted that, for example, 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of MRENDA (known for its unique sticky texture when cooked) contains more nutrients than similar parts to regular cabbage.

Progress like Professor Abukutsa-onyango in promoting the diversity and knowledge of indigenous vegetables is Recognized by UNESCO in 2021 The United Nations cultural institutions praised the East African countries for “maintaining intangible cultural heritage”, which was threatened by “historical factors and pressure from modern lifestyles.”

It noted that Kenya had started a project involving scientists and local communities in 2007 to document a list of traditional foods, which now includes 850 indigenous plants and their local names.

Some of these vegetables are eaten nationwide, while others are targeted at certain regions or communities.

However, Sukumawiki was initially introduced to Kenya from the Mediterranean as animal feed, and many farmers remain favored – more than 700,000 tons were produced in 2023, more than twice the merger of all indigenous leafy vegetables.

Francis Ngiri, who once cultivated cabbage as a major crop in Kirinyaga, central Kenya, explained that this is because, especially in the 1970s, the use of fertilizers and pesticides for imported vegetables was damaged by local biodiversity.

Today, he told the BBC that only the introduced varieties thrived because the soil became too acidic to support many native species.

Determined to do something so they are not lost forever, Mr. Ngiri moved his actions to the rift valley of Kenya – an area he thought was relatively untouched by chemical pollution – so he could practice organic agriculture for indigenous crops.

On a four-acre (1.6 hectares) farm in Elementaita, he started with 14 local varieties in 2016. Today, he has grown to 124, many of whom communicate with other farmers’ seed sources. Now his farm attracts tourists from Kenya and neighboring countries.

They came to see how he worked with 800 other regional farmers who also planted organic food for local markets to preserve and regenerate “forgotten plants” to ensure that their genetic diversity is protected for future generations.

However, by exchanging seeds, Mr. Ngiri and his colleagues are actually breaking the law because the government only allows the planting of certified seeds.

The controversial law was introduced in 2012 to protect farmers from buying poor quality seeds.

Wambui Wakahiu, who trains farmers for seed protection, said the policy does not support efforts to save indigenous crop varieties because their seeds are not available in farm supply stores.

She works on a non-governmental organization’s seed saving network network with 400,000 members, which helps farmers safely store and preserve seed banks of local seeds.

Her team found that due to the law, more than 35 traditional plant varieties were “completely lost” in one county alone.

“If (farmers) focus more on exotic seeds, then traditional seeds will continue to disappear. We have seen most of them die out,” she told the BBC.

Mr Ngiri and others who are exchanging seeds have not been pursued by the authorities, but he said the law did stop their marketing: “If I can’t sell seeds, I don’t own them.”

Getting certification is a rigorous, expensive process because the seeds need to be tested in the lab to ensure their purity and things like the degree of germination.

Dr. Peterson Wambugu, chief research scientist at the National Gene Bank of Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro), acknowledged that under current law, the exchange and sale of uncertified seeds – including seeds preserved by farmers – including seeds of farmers – are committed.

However, he noted that this contradicts the international treaty of Plant Genetic Resources in Food and Agriculture, which Kenya is the signatorian because it gives farmers the right to save, use and exchange seeds.

National Gene Bank has been working with other groups to draft regulations through the Ministry of Agriculture to align Kenyan laws with the treaty.

He told the BBC that the proposals, once passed by parliament, would make farmers “not worried about what they are doing criminal things.”

However, sales of such seeds will remain illegal – Dr. Wambugu knows that this means the journey to fully accepting indigenous crops is still continuing.

For Priscilla Njeri, a vegetable supplier in the bustling Wangige market outside Nairobi, there are no repeat customers because she can see directly that indigenous vegetables are now the most popular vegetables for her clients – she devoted herself to promoting their media campaigns.

“Favorites are Managu, Terrere and Kanzira (African kale), which is very popular for those without gasoline stomachs,” she told the BBC.

“But all the kienyeji greens are good because they taste better.”