Introduction to Syntropic Agriculture
Despite the development of Syntropic Agriculture occurring openly and horizontally without going through the academic silos, the principal concepts necessary for the understanding and correct use of the method were based on scientific studies conducted since the last century.
The acquisitions and replications allowed the systematization and identification of principles and general knowledge that provide ample evidence supporting Syntropic Agriculture as a modern and formal method, in which the fundamental principles are finely replicated in the results of demonstrators. Precision in methodology is respected, and it becomes increasingly predictable. In Brazil, Syntropic Agriculture is a method of ecological succession based on knowledge of the spontaneous or semi-spontaneous plant species and environmental processes derived from native anthropized ecosystems that were systematically studied and combined with the general environmental knowledge published in the last century.
Syntropic Agriculture means supporting, together, in a single concept, the act of planting and caring for crops, among which the planted forest is the fundamental axis of the agroforestry system, which integrates annual and semi-perennial crops and incorporates vegetable biomass through pruning. While it is a much more advanced concept and effective than shifting agriculture, as it has a clear beginning and depends only on personal knowledge and commitment, it is also much more accessible. In addition to annual crops, it can accommodate pasture restoration and conservation, especially in private naturally regenerating fields, natural succession, or prerogatives of natural landscapes. With Syntropic Agriculture, it is necessary to know what needs to be done, choose the right location, create the ideal conditions, and perpetuate the cycle of succession and forest production.
Legal Framework for Agriculture in Kenya
The legal and policy framework guiding agriculture in Kenya lies in the Constitution, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority Act, the Plant Protection Act, the Crops Act, the Organic Agriculture Regulations, and the national policies. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority Act establishes the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority, which implements agricultural laws and policies and oversees its development and promotion. It was enacted to provide for the development of agriculture and the regulation, production, marketing, and processing of agricultural products and succeeds ten government agriculture-related bodies, including the Coffee Board of Kenya and the Tea Board of Kenya.
The Plant Protection Act requires plant protection measures to ensure favorable conditions for the production, trade, and use of food, wood, flowers, and other crops. The Act focuses on reducing biological threats to plants and plant products related to pests to remedy domestic shortages, improve crop quality, and generate income from exports. The regulations require the recognition of qualified veterinarians, whether foreign, Kenyan, practicing, or non-practicing. The veterinarians are given professional career growth potential, where they, among other things, provide, establish, manage, and enforce animal health standards and help in monitoring, surveillance, research, cooperation, and capacity building. The Crops Act is meant to regulate the production, post-harvest works, marketing, and general development of crops to facilitate the Crops Act’s implementation. The Crops Regulations consider internationally accepted maximum residue limits and procedures concerning the inspection of produce offered for export to international markets, which need to comply with the requirements.
Understanding Syntropic Agriculture Practices
Syntropic agriculture (SA) is a farming system that integrates crop choices, maintenance and nursing activities, and recycling of organic matter with the use of canopy and mycorrhizal fungi to result in the overall management of complexity to stimulate systems in line with the natural regeneration processes of forests. The use of SA results in the build-up of horizontal plant understories expanded crop sequences or cover cropping, and conservation and protection of topsoil, microclimate reconstruction, and increased soil moisture in situ.
Several principles guide the implementation process. The first is an increase in below-ground carbon, which relates to the increased exudation and carbon accumulation in soils. Then, use of syntropic systems that capture sunlight and produce large proportions of belowground biomass. There is also the use of nursery systems to promote diversity as well as processes that include fungi and other mutualists. In addition, the SA systems enhance the process of self-organization in agricultural systems. There is also the principle of using multi-generation scenarios in design to allow dynamic processes in agricultural systems to be influenced, and the switching to in situ profitability within a short time.
As it is used in farming, SA can achieve a complex agronomic scenario similar to that found in forests of strong production of biomass, the resilience of ecosystems to perturbations, and profitability of the existing system. These outcomes go as far as impacting global processes such as carbon regulation, through increasing the exudation of sugars, thus stimulating microbial life – the main regulator of carbon in the soil – primary production of vegetative biomass through the handling of nutrients, and the decrease of the temperature of the microclimate. The increasing complexity in keeping with the concept of a dynamic equilibrium does not change; the classification of the system as syntropic therefore fundamentally depends on current reality and needs.
Challenges and Opportunities in Regulating Syntropic Agriculture
Syntropic agriculture, from the outset, presents many challenges to the law in the way that laws have evolved historically and how they have categorized plants. The regulation of plants in Kenya is characteristic of a law drawn originally from colonial texts. Historically, it served to preserve ‘native’ flora and fauna in national parks and reserves. Commercial plants have been a great source of income for many countries and a basis of trade with others. This value, only now recognized by the law in Kenya, is the reason why many laws regulate plants. The majority of laws that control plants do so by categorizing them in taxonomic families, and this categorization confers upon them a certain legal and socio-economic benefit. Therefore, the regulation of syntropic agricultural activity in Kenya will be difficult, as categories that do not exist in the law will have to be established. This is only one of the many challenges that the entry of syntropic agriculture presents.
The challenges aside, the synergy between the relevant laws provides numerous opportunities to the sector. A synthesis of these laws and international conventions shows that the potential for regulation is vast, but the current laws are insufficient to guide the regulation of syntropic agriculture and transformative agriculture. The opportunities are therefore seen in future regulatory measures that will be put in place. The composition and administration of an organic development and certification body to regulate and set the standards for organic products could serve as an example of a statutory board that could be set up. The organ on how to conserve and utilize biodiversity in Kenya provides, in part, the administrative body that could steer the sector. Lastly, the Constitution could be amended to recognize and protect the precept and reliance of the people on alternative agricultural systems, as the law provided for indigenous communities.
Recommendations for Policy and Legal Reforms
There is growing recognition of the challenges facing smallholder farmers in Kenya during a period when the nation struggles with issues touching on food security, poverty reduction, environmental conservation, land security, and climate change. Among the challenges, the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices calls for the support of enabling legal and policy conditions to ensure consistency and coherence through the range of public sector activities aimed at strengthening food and agriculture systems. Equally fundamental is the protection of the rights of food producers and the general rights that belong to all citizens that are protected under the commons. The challenge today, particularly with young people, is to restore and protect the commons, including land rights and seed systems, as a substrate for food sovereignty.
Syntropic agriculture is based on the utilization and improvement of natural ecosystems. The formalization of syntropic agriculture would provide a few dynamics towards the achievement of Kenya’s policy and legal objectives: enhanced food security, alleviation of poverty, gender equality, climate change mitigation, and adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. The purposes of this opportunity would be achieved by effectuation of the substantive and procedural laws including the Seed and Farm Input Act and the Community Land Act, which in their applicability would harmonize in conjunction with the protection of farmers’ rights and the protection of the commons. This study recommends that it is in the best interest of Kenya’s agricultural policies, practices, and legal reforms to recognize and provide strong support for syntropic agriculture.
