Food Insecurity: Causes and Policy Framework in Strengthening Food Security in Kenya’s Agricultural Sector. (Published)
According to United Nations Food Agriculture Organization and the United States of America department of agriculture in the World Food Summit in 1996, Food security exists when all people at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Food security is basic to the survival of any nation, be it at individual, family or national level. This therefore means that food security should have top priority since no meaningful development in economic, social or cultural sphere is possible without it. However in Kenya, with a population of more than 40 million people, about 10% is classified as food insecure according to United States of America Department of Agriculture – Food Security Analysis March 2009. This is growing at an annual rate of about 30%. Kenya is the largest import market for food and agriculture products in East Africa. Kenya imported about 725 million in agriculture products during 2009, up from 525 million in 2007 in an attempt to mitigate the crisis. This implies that the Government of Kenya should come up with policies that ensure people have access to enough food. This paper examines the role of policy framework in strengthening food security in Kenya.
Keywords: Agricultural Sector, Economic Development, Food Security, Kenya, Policy Framework
Impact of Social Media on Agricultural Extension in Kenya: A Case of Kesses District (Published)
The introduction of social media and web 2.0 applications has opened up a platform that agricultural extension officer’s, farmers, agricultural institutions and non-governmental institutions utilize to disseminate and exchange agricultural information. The objective of the study was to assess the use of social media as a source of agricultural information with reference to farmers in Kesses District. The study adopted a descriptive survey and the major data collection tools were interviews from farmers who use social media platforms. The study purposively sampled farmers in Kesses District and data was analyzed both descriptively. From the analysis, it is evident that there is immense need for agricultural information among farmers in Kesses District. The study reveals that farmers in Kesses District have diverse source of agricultural information for example the internet, social media and extension services. Majority of farmers approach the use of social media in agricultural information seeking with a positive attitude, pointing to the assumption that social media is largely beneficial and convenient as a source of agricultural information. Among the most common challenges faced include poor network access, power outages, and costly charges when accessing the internet. This study recommends that information centers can be established in Kesses District whereby farmers can obtain agricultural information online and that social media should be fully utilized to provide; feedback, complement extension programs, access local and international markets and complement communication campaigns whose goal is to bring about agricultural development.
Keywords: Agriculture, Farmer, Information, Kenya, Social media, extension