History

KPL was formed in January 2016 and the formation was motivated by the WTO MC10 meeting that took place in Nairobi in December 2015.

During the MC10, the Kenyan Social Movements formed a Social Movement Working Group on WTO where with the support of La Via Campesina (LVC), we organized a parallel Peoples WTO meeting. It is during this meeting that a resolution was passed to form a movement to represent the interests of Peasant Farmers in Kenya.

In January 2016, a meeting of the Social Movements Working Group on WTO resolved to form Kenyan Peasants League (KPL). During 2016 and early 2017, KPL focused much on campaigns and advocacy on matters of peasants and in March 2017, KPL resolved to start direct mobilization of peasant farmers. The focal areas of focus were identified as Migori, Kisumu, Machakos, Trans Nzoia, Turkana, Kiambu, and Nairobi Counties.

Phase one of direct farmers’ mobilizations focused on Migori, Machakos, and Nairobi Counties. In the three counties, KPL has formed structures binging together Peasant Farmers into clusters of between 10 and 20 peasant farmers. In Migori County, we currently have four clusters; in Machakos, we have two clusters while in Nairobi we have five clusters.