Enhancing food and nutrition, market linkages and resilient livelihoods for smallholder farmers through agroecology in Kitui and Nakuru counties of Kenya with a special focus on women and youth

THE ANFEA LDF PROJECT

Project Summary

Food insecurity and nutrition continue to affect the growing Kenyan population especially the rural populations largely consisting of smallholder farmers. The Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG) 2022 report indicates that approximately 1.6 million people in Kenya are food insecure, with 2 out of 5 Kenyan households experiencing food shortages. The situation is exacerbated by the effects of climate change, land degradation, limited access to agricultural resources, and inadequate application of productive farming practices.

The need for sustainable solutions to address food insecurity, strengthen the participation of smallholder farmers and particularly women and youth in markets landscape is therefore evident. This project therefore seeks to address food nutrition and security, enhance market access by farmers and improve their livelihoods. The project will use agroecological farming practices as the main intervention to address food and nutrition security and in catalyzing improvement of rural farm livelihoods through active engagement with market.

Project Goal & Rationale

The Project aims to promote selected agroecology practices to enhance food and nutrition, strengthen access to markets and improve resilience of livelihoods by smallholder farmers specifically women and youth in Kitui and Nakuru counties of Kenya.

Project Value Chains

  • Crops (Indigenous vegetables, cereals, and legumes),

  • Livestock (Dairy goats, and Rabbits),

  • Bee Keeping

Strategic Interventions

To achieve this objective, BvAT will promote both crop and livestock production through four strategic interventions namely: –

  1. Resilient agroecology crop value chains (Indigenous vegetables, legumes, and cereals)
  2. Livestock diversification through bee keeping & small ruminants (Dairy Goats and Rabbits) production through a revolving fund approach.
  3. Market linkages through development of small and medium agro-enterprises development (SMEs)
  4. Enhance capability to access and control resources through Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA)

Project Objectives

  1. Enhance adoption of agroecological farming practices (agroforestry, water harvesting techniques, soil health management, crop rotation, crop diversification, soil protection, conservation agriculture, etc.) among smallholder women farmers and youth.
  2. Develop a revolving fund scheme of livestock production (small ruminants -improved dairy goats and rabbits) and bee keeping as alternative livelihood sources.
  3. Enhance capability to access and control resources through establishment of local level institutions (VSLAs) for farmers and youth to access financial and market functions/services for supporting agroecological farming transitions.
  4. Enhance access to markets by small holder farmers by supporting existing agroecology-enterprises (SMEs) to off-take farmers produce and ensure farmers are making profits from agroecological farming.
  5. Enhance delivery of project goals and objectives through structured management and monitoring and evaluation.

Project Target Beneficiaries

The 3-year project targets to benefit 900 farmers through a multiplier effect by the 3rd year of implementation. Thus, the project will reach 540 women farmers (60%) and 360 youth (40%).

The process of reaching more farmers will be done through the revolving funds approach where the initial group of 300 farmers will be expected to revolve the new stock to 600 farmers by the end of the project. therefore, in total reaching 900 farmers.

Geographical Areas of Implementation