Susan Owiti balances motherhood, activism and a relentless fight for food sovereignty. Born in Nairobi but rooted in Siaya County, she spends her Saturdays in a modest office in Kangemi—a bustling informal settlement just 11 km west of the capital—where she serves as secretary‑general of The Women’s Articulation, one of four grassroots clusters that compose the Kenyan Peasants’ League (KPL).
Owiti’s journey began with a stark realization: women’s voices were conspicuously absent from land‑rights dialogues and agricultural policy debates. “If Kenya wants to achieve development, inequalities that prevent women’s access to land must be addressed first,” she insists, echoing the collective’s mantra that true progress hinges on gender equity in the fields and on the title deeds. Through community workshops and inclusive dialogues, she has helped demystify land‑ownership laws for countless peasant women, urging them to claim the property that sustains their families.
Beyond land, Owiti has become a prominent critic of the corporate push for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and hybrid seed systems. In a recent interview with Rooted magazine, she warned that seed‑company loans masquerade as “women’s empowerment” while ensnaring families in perpetual debt. “European biotech firms like Bayer sell pesticides in Kenya that are banned in the EU because of health risks,” she told the publication, adding that GMOs would compound the same threats to farmer health and financial stability. Her stance aligns with KPL’s broader campaign that frames hybrid seeds—and the looming introduction of GMOs—as tools of “debt and depression” for peasant women.
Owiti’s advocacy extends to the courtroom. On 7 March 2025, Kenyan farmers secured a landmark conservatory order halting the government’s plan to lift the GMO ban—a victory she celebrated as a testament to collective resistance against corporate agribusiness. She also presented a case study on “Land Grabbing Targeting Widows” at the 2019 Peasants Agroecology Summer School, highlighting how dispossession disproportionately harms women across Siaya, Kakamega, Migori and Machakos.
Her leadership is not confined to national borders. As a member of the International Coordination Committee of La Via Campesina, Owiti amplifies Kenyan peasant struggles on global platforms, linking local land battles to worldwide movements for agro‑ecology and food sovereignty. She argues that “seed companies offer loans under the guise of empowerment, but in reality they trap us in cycles of debt and hardship,” a sentiment echoed by fellow activists across the Global South.
What sets Owiti apart is her blend of pragmatic community work and bold political critique. She does not shy away from confronting powerful interests, yet she remains grounded in the everyday realities of the women she represents. “I am a peasant feminist,” reads the slogan on her T‑shirt, a declaration that captures both her identity and her efforts.
In a country where local agriculture feeds over 70 % of the population, Susan Owiti’s voice is a reminder that true food security begins with land justice, gender equity, and a refusal to surrender the seeds of the future to profit‑driven monopolies. Her story illustrates how a determined individual, armed with grassroots organization and international solidarity, can challenge entrenched systems and plant the seeds of lasting change.
Susan Owiti is a feminist activist, peasant farmer and a co-founder of the Kenyan Peasants League, which is a member of the international peasant movement La Vía Campesina (LVC). She is the co-founder and Secretary General of the Women’s Articulation of the Kenyan Peasants League. She is also a member of LVC’s International Coordinating Committee and is active in La Via Campesina Southern and Eastern Africa
Susan Owiti can be contacted at: susanowiti2013@gmail.com
Layne Hartsell, (USA) 雷恩∙哈特塞尔 - 마이클레인핫셀 - 3E: Energy, Economy, Environment – research fellow at the Center for Science, Technology, and Society, Department of Philosophy, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, and researcher in Bioregional Letters at North Valley College, Mindanao, Philippines, and also 3E at the Asia Institute, Tokyo. Past affiliations: assistant professor, convergence studies, Sookmyung Women's University and Research Institute for Asian Women - Asia-Pacific Women's Information Network Center in Seoul. Research professor, Sungkyunkwan University and the Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology, Seoul/Suwon. Lecturer at Mahidol University, Siriraj Medical Center, Department of Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics, Bangkok. Researcher at the University of Virginia College of Medicine, Charlottesville. He is a member of the editorial board at Korea IT Times.
Korean version available here.
