Abstract:
Policies fronting commercialization of agriculture in Kenya assumed that realization of
increased household incomes, through cultivation of cash crops, would guarantee improved
food security and subsequent reduction of poverty. However, most communities in Kenya
growing cash crops are currently struggling to put food on the table. Nandi South is a maize
deficit zone despite being 68% arable and having good climate (GoK, 2005). Population
pressure has led to competition for limited land resource, coupled with unfavourable poverty
indicators; they have impacted negatively on food access in the district. Specifically
significant is smallholder tea population in Nandi Hills division. The study focused the
population of smallholder tea farmers in Nandi South who supply their tea leaves to the
Multinational tea estates. The main objective was to investigate the factors influencing
households’ food security among smallholder tea farmers in Nandi South. A modified Almost
Ideal Demand System (AIDS) was used to model food demand of the smallholder
households. Multi-stage proportional-to-size cluster sampling was used to sample 180
households. Data was collected using both questionnaires and interviews. Results point out
that income, savings, food storage, land productivity, off-farm income, ratio of land allocated
to tea significantly influence household food security. Policies that aim at improving
household food security among smallholder cash crop farmers should target at increasing and
diversifying household income sources and farm enterprises, provision of saving
opportunities, storage facilities and proper allocation of land resource between cash crops and
food crops.