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Tea growing among smallholders‘ tea farmers plays a very important role as far as
food security is concerned. However, records indicated that smallholders‘ tea farmers
in Bomet County experience food shortage every year. Therefore, the purpose of this
study was to assess the situation of food security among smallholder tea farmers in
Bomet County, Kenya. The study objectives included: to examine the influence of
assets on food security among smallholder tea farmers in Bomet County, to determine
the effect of tea factory management on food security among smallholder tea farmers
in Bomet County and to assess the impact of smallholder tea farmers activities in
Bomet County on food security. The study was guided by Entitlement Theory and
Sustainable Livelihood Theory. This study adopted pragmatism paradigm approach.
The study employed mixed approach embracing exploratory and explanatory research
designs. Target population was 16,572 tea farmers. Multi-stage, purposive and random
sampling techniques were used to select a sample size of 391. Instruments of data
collection included questionnaires, key informants‘ interviews, focus group
discussions and non-participant observations. The reliability of the instrument was
tested through the use of the Cronbach Alpha value. Quantitative data was analysed
using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of the Statistical Package
for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26. Descriptive statistics included percentages,
frequencies, mean and standard deviation. Inferentially, correlation was used to
determine relationship between independent and dependent variables while multiple
regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Qualitative data was analysed
using thematic analysis and presented in form of verbatim reports. The study findings
revealed that there was negative linear influence of assets on food security (β 1 =-.266,
p=0.000). It was further established that tea factory management has a negative and
significant influence on food security (β 2 =-.353, p=0.035). Finally, smallholder tea
farmers activities were found to have a negative and significant influence on food
security (β 3 =-.334, p=0.001). The study findings from interviews revealed that there is
food insecurity among smallholder tea farmers characterized by shortage of food,
unsuitability of food and diet. The study concluded that assets such as natural,
physical, human, financial and social capital has led to food insecurity among
smallholder tea farmers. The tea factory management has reduced tea prices making
the farmers to get small amount of money to buy food hence leading to food
insecurity. Tea farmers‘ activities such as planting trees in the farms, using children to
pluck tea and using all lands on tea plantation hence relying on tea income to buy
foodstuffs leading to food insecurity. The study recommends that small scale tea
farmers need to change their economic practices through adoption of modern methods
of farming such as irrigation. For the effective management of food insecurity in
Bomet, the stakeholders (farmer organisation, farmers, NGOs and external assistance)
of food security should increase their efforts in areas of scientific food research and in
policy values that govern food security in the county. Diversified methods of farming
will address the problem of food insecurity. |
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