Centre for Advanced Studies in Environmental Law and Policy

Analysis of the Sustainability of Livestock Food System in Kenya: a Case of Camel Milk Value Chain in Isiolo County

2024-02-21T12:43:15Z

Analysis of the Sustainability of Livestock Food System in Kenya: a Case of Camel Milk Value Chain in Isiolo County Machan, Steve N. The pastoral communities of Isiolo County in Kenya are mainly dependent on camel milk value chain as a primary source of livelihood. The system experience challenges in sustenance due to production, quality control, and safety measures. These and other related risks and stressors such as environmental degradation accruing from climate change and poor land uses are major threats to this livelihood system. In this study I analyzed the drivers and processes influencing the sustenance of camel milk value chain in Isiolo County. The specific objectives of the study were to: (i) characterize the camel milk value chain and its players (ii) examine the environmental factors influencing the system (iii) evaluate the efficacy of the regulatory frameworks, and (iv) develop a model for an enhanced system. I adopted a mixed methods approach in the case study and I collected primary data from 284 households selected through simple random technique, using a survey questionnaire, and interview guides for focus group discussions (FGD) and key informant interviews (KII). I obtained secondary data from the literature review from research publications and existing reports from relevant public and private institutions. I used analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test for inter-annual variations in quantities of camel milk supplied by producers to bulking centers. I also carried out regression analysis between fresh and value-added milk products against prices and cross tabulations to assess the variations and associations between the variables presented. I analyzed the data using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) for Windows Version 23 as the statistical software tool. The main findings of the study show firstly, a characteristic three categories of actors, namely, the micro actors, the support services providers, and the policy makers who are not-well connected; secondly, the result indicates high variations in supply of camel milk delivered to the bulking and processing centers due to changes in seasonality; thirdly, inadequate capacities and weak institutional coordination mechanisms among the chain actors and support institutions and fourthly, I present a model for a sustainable camel milk value chain system for Isiolo County. I conclude that the current system is not sustainable due to unstable quantities of milk supplied to processing centers predisposed by seasonality and climatic variability. The current milk produced by producers is also of low quality and poor hygienic standards. There is also inadequate connectivity among the camel milk value chain actors and weak implementation of the existing policies supporting the system. I recommend a well-regulated camel milk value chain to improve on the current informal marketing system through establishing a camel policy in the county with a structured institutional arrangement for sustenance. This will enhance capacity building of the value chain actors for adoption of sustainable land uses and natural resources management in order to stabilize the camel milk value chain for Isiolo County.

Street Food Vendors and Food Access: a Comparative Study of Viwandani and Buru-buru Residential Areas in Nairobi, Kenya

2023-02-07T06:25:35Z

Street Food Vendors and Food Access: a Comparative Study of Viwandani and Buru-buru Residential Areas in Nairobi, Kenya Lemomo, Charles P This was a comparative study between Viwandani and Buruburu residential areas, where demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics were used to assess the contribution of street food vendors to urban food access. The objectives of the study were to; a) compare the demographic and socio-economic characteristics (education, income, gender, age, marital status and experience) of the street food vendors, b) Map and characterize the street food types sold in Viwandani and Buruburu, c) Assess the contribution of street foods to urban food access, d) Analyze the sources of food sold in the study area. Primary data were obtained from a census survey administered to one hundred and four street food vendors in the study region. Geographic Information Systems were used to examine the mapping data, while descriptive statistics were utilized to evaluate the socioeconomic data. The results showed that vendors were concentrated along the main roads, railway line and footpaths forming a linear pattern. Women comprised majority (73%) of food vendors in Viwandani, and 68% in Buru Buru. The majority of the food vendors in Buru Buru were more educated than their counterparts in Viwandani. In addition, 55% of the food vendors in Buru Buru have worked in the street food business for 2 to 5 years while those in Viwandani were the most experienced having worked for over 10 years. An observation was made that the food sellers failed clean fresh food appropriately. Food vendors interviewed prepared their foods in unhygienic environmental conditions near dusty roads. T h e y sourced their food from formal markets, informal markets, shops, farms, and wholes. The government is recommended to invest in the street foods as it generates jobs and provides inexpensive food to urban dwellers.

Influence of Financing Initiatives on Students’ Participation in University Education a Case of University of the Gambia

2022-12-07T09:07:06Z

Influence of Financing Initiatives on Students’ Participation in University Education a Case of University of the Gambia Samba, Mariama The main purpose of the study was to unearth the influence of financing initiatives on students’ participation in university education: a case of University of The Gambia. The specific objectives included: to examine the influence of university units’ adherence to government funding policy on university education on students’ participation, to establish the influence of parental financial contribution on students’ participation; to assess the influence of financial support by the non-governmental organization and to determine the influence of work-study program on students’ participation in the University of the Gambia. The research was based on the theory of classical liberalism. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The target population included 420 Students drawn from first and fourth-year levels of study. Key informants of the study were DVC Academic, Director Finance, Director Students Affairs and selected Deans of Faculties. The study used mixed method approach and employed the use of questionnaires and interviews in data collection. Quantitative data collected from questionnaires were edited, coded and analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. Data analysis was done through descriptive (frequencies and percentages) and inferential (Pearson Correlation) statistics. The results show that government funding policy depicted a very weak and insignificant correlation with students’ participation in university education (r= 0.050, p >0.05). A positive significant correlation between parental financial contribution and students’ participation was found between all the variables having a significance (p-value) <0.01 (0.873, p < 0.01, 0.82, p<0.01, 0.72, p<0.00) correlations implied that there was a strong relationship between parental financial contributions and students’ participation in the University of the Gambia. A moderate, positive and significant relationship between NGOs funding support and students’ participation in university education yielded a p value, < 0.000), implying an increase in students’ participation in university education following an increase in NGO funding. The study concluded that higher learning institutions adherence to the funding policy provided by the government, parental contribution ,financial support provided by NGOs and work study programs have a positive influence on students’ participation in University Education. The study recommends that opportunities for work-study programs should be exploited by designing flexible working hours, create awareness about the existence of funding policy, engage more with the stakeholders and the government to create an enabling environment for NGOs to operate effectively so that they can give more financial assistance and increase the level of students’ participation in higher education.

Land Policy and Gender in Sub-saharan Africa:the Effect of Land Consolidation on the Differential Status of Women and Men in the Siaya District of Kenya )

2022-07-19T12:49:01Z

Land Policy and Gender in Sub-saharan Africa:the Effect of Land Consolidation on the Differential Status of Women and Men in the Siaya District of Kenya ) Ndagwe, Omondi A The twentieth century will go down in history as a century when Africa fulfilled the dismal Hobbesian prediction. Africa has become the one continent in the world where human life is hardly worth living because of the man-made problems of inequality and impoverishment. This thesis examines the effect of land consolidation on gender inequality and feminized poverty in a particular community in Kenya. This depends on historical documentation, comparative statistical evidence and interviews that the author conducted in the Siaya District of Kenya as well as in Nairobi. The thesis argues that land consolidation turned out to be a policy of dispossession and impoverishment imposed and sustained by a particular colonial authority on the people of Siaya. It does not accept suggestions that land consolidation was a positive development policy. Initially it started as a punitive measure that was imposed by colonial force in a state of emergency. The Luo people were not recognised as having their own traditional way of land ownership and use, a right and a heritage that had served them for centuries. An honest and ethical approach to life that had been inculcated in the culture and widely reflected due to lack of policy informed development. The Luo as a society sacrificed and lost all their dignity, and their social, human, physical and economic resources to colonial and post colonial Kenya. Siaya eventually became the most socially underdeveloped and therefore the poorest district in Kenya. This thesis is presented at a time when, paradoxically, the international community has resolved to eradicate poverty from the face of the earth. Different international agencies accept that this is possible. Certainly it will depend on a strong will. There are many people in the world who are ready to help others empower themselves, but not discriminate against them or dominate them. These are the people who will confront the problem discussed in this thesis. Overall, this thesis contributes to an understanding of the reasons why poverty has not been eradicated in Siaya and may even have increased. Having^vitnessed the failure of development policy, humanity will be defeated and international citizenship will remain a dream in the next century unless strategies to eradicate poverty and gender inequality become more successful.