Influence of sustainable agricultural land management practices on food security: the case of Kenya Agricultural carbon project in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

According to the 2009 Economic Survey, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, and Agriculture accounts for 24% of Kenya's GDP with 75% of the population depending on it directly in production or indirectly in agro-processing industries for livelihood generation. Over 80% of the rural population depends on agriculture for survival. Agriculture constitutes the economies of the rural communities many of who are poor. To cope with climate change that is likely to be both rapid and unpredictable, agricultural systems must be resilient and able to adapt to the change.

Resilient agriculture systems are those that are more likely to maintain economic, ecological and social benefits in the face of dramatic exogenous changes such as climate change and farm inputs price swings. This study therefore assessed the influence of Sustainable Agricultural Land Management Practices on farmers' food security in Bungoma County.

The objectives of this study were: Establish if residue management influence s food security situation in Bungoma County, establish if the practice of Agroforestry contributes to farmers' food security in Bungoma County, Determine if use of improved germplasm has influence on food security in Bungoma County, Determine the effect of efficient use of fertilizers on the farmers food security in Bungoma County and lastly find out if adoption of inter-cropping has any significance on food security in Bungoma county.

The target population was 4,054 households. Stratified sampling technique was used to randomly select a sample according to agro ecological zones thus the sample size was 179 households. The main tool in the study was structured questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the analysis of data using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Ms Excel.

The mean yield differences of the modeled crops for every year were compared by the use of ANOVA (analysis of Variance) to find out if there has been any significant increase in the yields due to SALM implementation. Data was then presented using tables, graphs and figures. The results showed significant relationships between SALMs adoption and food security.