Increasing Smallholder Productivity and Profitability in Kenya - GCP/KEN/082/USA

Increasing Smallholder Productivity and Profitability in Kenya - GCP/KEN/082/USA

Year of publication 2020

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Project

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) Nearly 80 percent of Kenya’s land mass is made up of arid and semi-arid areas (ASALs). The ASALs have the highest poverty rate in the country, and many people in these areas suffer from malnutrition and food insecurity. Agricultural productivity in the ASALs is extremely low, owing to a lack of resources and opportunities for the smallholder farmers who live there. Leveraging the ASALs into productive, profitable agricultural areas would boost rural livelihoods, as well as food and nutrition security. The ASALs were targeted for development under Kenya’s Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS), and increasing food security was set as a primary goal of the Government’s Vision 2030 programme. The Increasing Smallholder Productivity and Profitability (ISPP) Project was designed to support both of these objectives by strengthening the capacities of local Government officers, smallholder farmers and caregivers through a variety of training activities and the creation of market linkages. Specifically targeting women and their important role in both agriculture and agribusiness, as well as nutrition and household food security, was an integral part of the project.

Language English

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Combining nutrition education and rural livelihood support in Kenya
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The arid and semi-arid areas (ASALs) of Kenya cover nearly 84 percent of the national land and thus present an enormous potential contribution to national agricultural production as well as basic food and income for farmers residing in these areas. About three in every ten Kenyan children aged below two years are stunted. According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey conducted in 2014, Kitui county and West Pokot county had the highest stunting rates nationally at almost 46 percent. This is against a national average stunting rate of 26 percent. There have been multiple past projects in Kitui county that aimed at improving food security and nutrition, including through the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, growth monitoring, immunization, complementary feeding and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Increasing Smallholder Productivity and Profitability (ISPP) project, implemented between September 2016 and March 2020, was designed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to combine nutrition education with rural livelihood support. This approach aimed at strengthening the capacity of smallholder farmers in agricultural production, water management, and farming as a business. Furthermore, it aimed at improving nutrition outcomes of targeted household members in the semi-arid counties of Kitui, Machakos, Makueni, Taita-Taveta, and Tharaka-Nithi. The project had a specific component on Trials of Improved Practices (TIPs), aimed at improving infant and young child feeding practices.
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Agriculture is the mainstay of the Kenyan economy, contributing 26 percent of gross domestic product directly, and 25 percent indirectly. The sector accounts for 65 percent of Kenya’s total exports and provides over 70 percent of informal employment in rural areas, representing the means of livelihood for the majority of Kenyan people. Arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) cover nearly 80 percent of Kenya and present an enormous potential contribution to national agricultural production, as well as basic food and income for farmers residing in these areas. However, the ASALs have the lowest development indicators and the highest incidence of poverty in the country; food security is thus a major concern in the ASALs and the country at large. The KCEP-CRAL programme was an expansion of the Kenya Cereal Enhancement Programme, which became effective in April 2014 through a partnership between the Government of Kenya, the European Union, and IFAD. The main objective of the programme was to improve the economic potential of smallholders in Kenya’s ASALs and their ability to handle their natural resources and resilience to climate change in an increasingly vulnerable ecosystem, and to reduce rural poverty and food insecurity among these populations.
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Evaluation of the project “Increasing smallholder productivity and profitability”
Project code: GCP/KEN/082/USA
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FAO’s “Increasing smallholder productivity and profitability” (ISPP) project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by FAO in Kenya had the objective to improve livelihoods through enhanced productivity, market linkages and better nutrition. The evaluation assessed the relevance of the project and the achievement and sustainability of results. The evaluation found increased technical capacity among farmers, but significant limitations to apply the knowledge. Increased access to diverse types of fruits and vegetables at household level was reported. Anecdotal evidence shows change of dietary habits. Farmers were trained on contract farming, negotiation skills, marketing strategies, financial access and agro-entrepreneurship, but access to markets remained a challenge across all value chains promoted, and equitability of support services could not be established. For future, similar projects, the recommendations include i) the establishment of a community-based collaboration platform to foster long-term sustainability; ii) framework and guidelines for gender mainstreaming; iii) enhancing operational transparency and adaptive management; iv) exit strategy with sustainability action plan; v) comprehensive support for access to markets; and vi) focus on monitoring, learning and evaluability when designing and implementing reporting mechanisms.

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