Socio-Economic Determinants of Food Insecurity at Household Level in Makueni County, Kenya
Loading...
Date
2020
Authors
Kathuri, N.J
Kisovi, L.M
Obando, J.A
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Journal of Scientific Research and Management
Abstract
Food insecurity remains a great threat to many countries
especially in the low – income countries. Many studies blame the
problem of food insecurity especially in the Arid and Semiarid
Lands (ASALs) to the bio-physical factors such as climate, soil
and altitude among others. However, Socio-economic
determinants are important elements that influence food insecurity
at household level. Thus, this study examined the socio-economic
determinants of food insecurity at household level in Makueni
County, Kenya. This region is one of the ASALs that face
perpetual food insecurity in the Kenya. Guided by descriptive
research design and based on a semi-structured questionnaire, data
was gathered from households to examine the influence of socioeconomic factors on food insecurity. Socio-economic factors were
considered as independent variables and their relationships
examined with food security as a dependent variable. From the
400 respondents selected in Makueni County, Kenya, the study
revealed that the socio-economic factors such as lack of adequate
capital, number of regular dependants, lack of extension services,
gender, education level and lack of training among others tends to
influence food insecurity situation and therefore influences the
effectiveness of interventions of food insecurity at the household
level. The study established that most of the farmers are robust and
therefore the need to provide adequate support to the farmers so
that they can be able to boost their food production. The study
recommends the need to address the constraints that influence
households’ food insecurity such as building on their potential by
giving them credit facilities, training, use of technology and
explore ways of diversifying farmers’ livelihood activities such as
in setting up agro-based industries like food processing which
would act as a fall back strategy during food insecurity situations
among others.
Description
A research article published in International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications
Keywords
Determinants, Food insecurity, Households, Kenya, Makueni, Socio-economic
Citation
NJ, M. K., Kisovi, L. M., & JA, O. Socio-Economic Determinants of Food Insecurity at Household Level in Makueni County, Kenya.