Impact of Agricultural Diversification on Food Security among Smallholder Farming Community in Kilifi South Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Food security is critical to the economic, social, religious, political and cultural development in Kenya. It is crucial to the attainment of economic growth, poverty reduction and sustainable development. Kilifi Sub-County is food insecure and this is a major hindrance to its rural development strategy. Rainfall unreliability, poor distribution and its erratic nature is major challenge to food security in this Sub-County. Despite past efforts put to increase food agricultural production in the Sub-County, food insecurity continues to be felt. Factors causing food insecurity are not clearly understood. The objective of this study is to: determine the influence of agricultural diversification as a livelihood strategy on food security status in Kilifi Sub-County. The research methodology involved a survey using a standard questionnaire which was administered to a sample size of 384 households selected using systematic random sampling procedure. The main data to be collected are indicators which include food availability and food access. Quantitative research method was used to capture data on agricultural diversification as a livelihood strategy among the smallholder farmers in Kilifi south Sub-County. To further enhance food security and improve food security status in Kilifi South Sub-county, engagement in agricultural diversification activities should be encouraged. The findings of this study would be beneficial to leaders, stakeholders and policy makers in decision making process pertaining suitable interventions in attainment of food security in Kilifi South Sub-county. The data was analyzed using multiple regression to measure the combined contribution of livelihood strategies. The analysis of the influence of agricultural diversification on food security revealed that 19% of the households kept cows, 13% kept sheep, 33% kept goats and 35% kept poultry. Additionally, 62% relied on maize, 9% on cassava, 2% on sorghum, 18% on cowpeas and 9% relied on coconut. The study revealed that the households which kept poultry were 35% food secure and those who planted maize and cowpeas were 62% and 18% food secure respectively. It was recommended that these variables were to be addressed by all stakeholders in order to improve the food security status.