Regarding resistance, you could make the same arguments for any pesticide.
Moreover, this is about outlawing a technology. That should only be done if that technology forbid is harmful to the environment or public health. The farmers can then decide whether they should transition to other crops. That should not be imposed from above.
It's not outlawing a technology really, it's outlawing a middle-man who takes a sizable chunk of the profit.
This is extremely silly: with this attitude, we’d never have transformed our economy away from where majority people work in agriculture to where only a small fraction does, and the rest is freed to make other products and services nicer and more affordable.
It's a challenge - I sell solar irrigation to farmers in Kenya (hi from Nairobi), and despite some successes have pivoted to SaaS irrigation monitoring. I'd be ecstatic to talk through the Kenyan irrigation problem offline with HNers & ideate better solutions together. (Contact in handle profile.)
And even if resistance has been developed in "parts" of the US corn belt, presumably that would take years to develop in Kenya as well, in "parts"?
Better irrigation and cassava might be great ideas too, I wouldn't know. But it doesn't seem either/or -- why not try GMO maize as well?
First, they want to introduce BT-maize, which has nothing to do with drought resistance - it's been engineered to produce a biotoxin that some pests have already developed resistance to:
(2021) Resistance to Bt Maize by Western Corn Rootworm:
> "Since the 1990s, an important innovation in the management of agricultural pest insects has been the commercial cultivation of genetically engineered crops that produce insecticidal toxins, which in turn act to protect plants from feeding injury by insects. To date, these transgenic crops, which include cotton, maize and soybean, have produced insecticidal proteins derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Benefits associated with planting of Bt crops include reduced feeding injury from pest insects, decreased yield losses from pests and less harm to the environment. However, the evolution of Bt resistance by insect pests can diminish these benefits. One serious insect pest currently managed with Bt maize is the western corn rootworm. The larval stage of this insect feeds on maize roots and can substantially reduce yield. In some parts of the US Corn Belt, western corn rootworm rapidly adapted to Bt maize, and currently, some populations show resistance to all commercially available Bt traits."
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/2/136
The next question is, what's the cost of introducing this in terms of patent restrictions on seed production, seed costs to farmers, etc.? Reuters at least addresses the issue:
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/kenyas-gmo-maize-push-s...
Given the inexorable climate trends, maybe Kenya's farmers really need better irrigation systems or help with transition to more drought-resistant crops like cassava?
https://www.devex.com/news/kenyan-farmers-look-to-drought-re...
> "Cassava production in Kenya dropped in the nineties and early 2000s due to diseases, unavailability of clean seeds, poor varieties, and agronomical practices."