Influence of agricultural systems on household food security in Rarieda sub county, Siaya county, Kenya

Abstract

The number of people lacking food security globally has continued to rise, despite the numerous global interventions that have been put in place to address it. For instance, approximately 2.3 billion people (25.9%) lack food security, with approximated 828 million being undernourished. In Kenya approximately, 17 million people are food insecure with two million relying on food relief. Therefore, there was need to build local resilience of food systems and intensify local agricultural production to ensure food security. This can be achieved through sustainable agricultural systems like home gardening, mixed cropping and single food crop farming. However, many researches on food systems have focused on rainfall variation and climate change. There is less documentation on the influence of Agricultural Systems on Household Food Security. Despite the measures taken by the County government of Siaya to ensure food security, 80% of households are not food secure as indicated by the Government report. In Rarieda Sub-County 68% of households lack food security as revealed by the 2019 Demographic Survey. Food situation in Rarieda was of great concern. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of agricultural systems on household food security in Rarieda SubCounty.The specific objectives were; to examine the influence of home gardening on household food security in Rarieda Sub County, Siaya County; to determine the influence of mixed cropping on household food security in Rarieda Sub-County, Siaya County and to examine the influence of single food crop farming on household food security in Rarieda Sub-County, Siaya County. The study was anchored on Food Availability Decline Theory and Endowment and Entitlement Theory. The study employed cross-sectional research design with a target population of 25,428 households and a minimum sample size of 384 derived using fisher‟s formula. The household heads‟ selection was done through stratified random sampling for questionnaire administration. Purposive sampling was used to get the 6 key informants. Primary data were collected through key informant interview, photography, questionnaires and direct observation, while secondary data were obtained from journals, internet sources and government published reports. Qualitative data was examined through content analysis and quantitative data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Chi-square test was conducted to determine the association between agricultural systems and household food security. Results were presented in tables, plates and text. The results indicated that 67.65%, 33%, 59.15%, and 55.55% of the respondents significantly agreed, that horticulture crops, tubers, domestic animals and fish farming were home gardening practices contributing towards household food security (χ2 - 0.026). Mixed cropping of maize and beans, and perennial crops and seasonal crops were significantly associated with household food security in Rarieda SubCounty, at a 99% significance level (χ2 - 0.001). Single food crop farming was not a major contributor to household food security in Rarieda sub-County. The χ2 – value of 0.103 points to the fact that the practice was weakly associated with household food security at 90% significance level. The study concluded that mixed cropping and home gardening systems were strongly associated with household food security while single food crop farming system was weakly associated with household food security. The study recommended that the three agricultural systems should be emphasized to enhance food security.