The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) has just kicked off a Kenya Arid and Semi-Arid Lands Research Programme (KASAL) with funding from the European Union. Assistant Minister for Science and Technology, Mr Hassan Sasura, said at the launch that “the fragile pastoralist economies required product diversification and value addition to root out poverty and marginalisation.” That seems to give at least some hope that the programme will pay due attention to the importance of agricultural biodiversity. Let’s hope so.