78-Impact of Export Horticulture Farming on Food Security of Smallholder Farmers in Mbooni and Kirinyaga counties, Kenya

Jane Chege, John I. Mburu, Rose Nyikal and Beatrice Muriithi

No 160475, 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia from African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE)

Abstract: Production of horticultural products for export is a major cash cropping practice in Kenya which is ranked third in terms of foreign exchange earnings after tourism and tea. Available evidence in the debate of the impact of cash cropping systems on food security however shows mixed results. Different potential negative and positive impacts can be identified which vary with choice of cash crops and the situation in which they are being grown and marketed. To assess impact, food security was measured using per capita calorie intake, 7-day recall and propensity score matching method employed. Results indicate that export horticulture farming has a positive effect on food security status in Kirinyaga County but a negative effect in Mbooni County. Small holder farmers in Mbooni both growers and non- growers were consuming less than the recommended per capita calorie intake. The study recommends that policies aimed at encouraging smallholder farmers to participate in export horticulture farming should be promoted in Kirinyaga but further investigation to be carried out on the production and marketing conditions of export horticulture and food consumption behavior and intra household income distribution in Mbooni. A clear strategy to achieve food security should also be devised.

Keywords: Farm Management; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty; International Relations/Trade (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25
Date: 2013
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/160475/files/J ... 0Mburu%20et%20al.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaae13:160475

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.160475

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia from African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search (aesearch@umn.edu).