Influence of small holder farmers on household food Security in agro-pastoral zones in West Pokot County, Kenya

Abstract

Despite their importance in global and regional food production, smallholder farmers’ especially in agro-pastoral regions have received minimal recognition in policy, strategic frameworks and interventions. In Kenya, there has been little focus by government and interventions on agriculture for smallholder farmers in agro-pastoral regions, thus, rendering them into numerous vulnerabilities and constraints that impede their agricultural activities. This study broadly looked at the influence of smallholder farmers on household food security in agro-pastoral zones in West Pokot County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to; examine the role of smallholder farmers’ socio-economic factors on household food security, to evaluate smallholder farming characteristics on household food security, to examine the role of smallholder farmers’ household labour conditions on household food security and to determine the influence of climate variability on smallholder farmers activities towards achieving household food security in West Pokot County. This study adopted convergent research design guided by the entitlement theory, farming systems approach and basic needs theory. This study adopted pragmatism as its research paradigm and employed mixed methods approach. The target population comprised of 78,946 smallholder households in West Pokot County. Multi stage and systematic random sampling techniques were used to determine a sample size of 297 respondents. Instruments for data collection were; questionnaires, interview schedules and observation schedules. Correlation coefficient and coefficient of determination were used to determine the relationships between the variables. The linear regression results indicated that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between household food security and socio-economic factors (β=.699, p=.000). The results also implied that a unit increase in household labor conditions would result to significant increase in household food security (β=.670, p=.000). A moderated multiple regression (MMR) was also carried out to assess the moderating effect of farmer associations on the four variables. The study showed that farmer associations have significant moderating effect on the relationship between smallholder farming characteristics and household food security (β=0.569, p=0.000).The F-statistic was significant at p<0.001 (F=24.169) which implied that there existed a statistical relationship between the interaction (predictor) and household food security (criterion) variables, either directly or indirectly. From the study findings, it was concluded that the engagement of smallholder farmers to farmer associations would greatly enhance food security in agro-pastoral zones. This study recommends the involvement of various stakeholders in food security such as NGOs, National and County governments for policy formulation and capacity building on smallholder farmers associations to enhance food security.