ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Legitimisation of Pesticide Use Through Agro-Adverts on Radio and Television in Kenya

• In Event: Legitimating Agricultural Risk: Science, Bodies and Knowledge Across Global Farming

English Abstract

Modern agriculture in Kenya ranks as one of the significant drivers of Kenya’s economy. However, widespread uses of pesticide in the country is a threat to the desired sustainability. This reality is in a 2020 report that analysed pesticide use in Kenya. The report underlines that Kenya needs to aim at “embracing agroecology principles while safeguarding the right to healthy food and a healthy environment”. To this end, the report further recommends the need to enhance awareness “about sustainable agricultural practices”. This recommendation creates room to examine the means that legitimises pesticide use in Kenya. In this paper, I address the question: how do agro-adverts construct legitimacy for pesticide use in Kenya? To answer this question, I will compile a corpus of advertisements aired on radio and Television that broadcast in Gikuyu in Kenya. I will then analyse the imagery at work in the selected adverts to tease out imagery and linguistic choices that couch for pesticide use. I will then use the analyses to read against the 2023 Route to Food Initiative report to highlight the need to regulate the language and imagery of agro-adverts as a strategy for creating knowhow about pesticide categories and their possible hazards.

Author

• James Maina Wachira, Tharaka University