Post-harvest factors and household food security in Ndeiya Location, Kiambu District

Abstract

This study was designed to examine post-harvest factors and their influence on household food security. The study was carried out in Ndeiya Location, Kiambu District, between November 1999 and January 2000. The study sought to investigate the extent to which post-harvest food technology influences household food security, the effect of food selling on. the availability of household food, and the impact communal food sharing has on household food security. This study was guided by entitlement theory propounded by Amartya Sen. The mam method of data collection was structured interviews usmg a standardized questionnaire administered to a randomly selected study sample of 90 respondents. Data was also gathered through direct observations, key informants, focus group discussions, and reviewing of documentaries. The data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively and the information presented in form of the tables and descriptive accounts, respectively. The findings reveal that households tend to lose large quantities of grains due to improper post-harvest food handling, including food storage and preservation. Lack of reliable sources of income forced a majority of households to result in food selling in order to fulfil a myriad of subsistence needs. The study also revealed that although food sharing is a culturally defined strategy of subsistence, it hardly insured households against suffering food shortages. Infact, it exposed households to food insecurity.

It is, therefore, recommended that extension services on post-harvest food handling should be directed to the study area. Improved and cost effective methods of food storage and preservation should be introduced in the area. To reduce high dependence on maize as a cash crop, small-scale cash cropping that had been existing should be reactivated. It is also recommended that development agencies should assist in improving on the various off-farm income generating activities in which respondents engaged so as to increase the households. incomes. The study holds that with improved food storage systems and less dependence on food selling to earn supplementary incomes, households are likely to improve their access to adequate stocks of food. Subsequently, food sharing would be reduced and its negative impact largely nullified.