Influence of social dimension issues on sustainability of urban Agriculture in Kakamega town

Abstract

The research project discusses social dimension issues of the urban dwellers on the sustainability of urban agriculture in Kakamega town. The study focused on the social dimension of sustainable development as it was most neglected and unexplored, despite the fact that it was the objective of sustainable development. The study was guided by the following objectives: to determine the influence of peoples’ capacity on sustainability of urban agriculture in Kakamega town, to examine the contribution of social capital on sustainability of urban agriculture in Kakamega town, to determine the influence of access to resources for sustainability of urban agriculture in Kakamega town , to examine the levels of participation of urban dwellers on sustainability of urban agriculture in Kakamega town and to determine the influence of poverty on sustainability of urban agriculture in Kakamega town. The target population was 5238 of the urban dwellers practicing urban agriculture. Questionnaires, target group interviews and observation were used to gather primary data to supplement the secondary data. The data collected was filtered and grouped according to the themes derived from the objectives. Descriptive analysis was used to show the pattern of response. Quantitative analysis used thereafter in manipulation of data after coding and tools such as spearman rank correlation used to investigate the relation between the strata. It was found that all the variables had a strong correlation of above 0.6 between the two groups of study. Similarly the performance in the variable on capacity related to human capital had a stronger influence on the others .This was dependent on the consciousness of an individual and influenced the performance of other variables; hence to be reinforced. The sub-themes: labor raise aspects of inequality between the gender with bias on women, issue of child labor and the aged as stakeholders whose vulnerability was at stake hence need to create safety nets for them through a policy. The variables on social capacity and participation had a strong influence on sustainability of urban agriculture for both groups of study hence need to strengthen them through policies. The relationship between poverty and access to resources appeared linear and had a direct influence on sustainability of urban agriculture .The recommendation were that the socio-technical communication between the government and these groups, research, NGOs and academic institutions would guide the use of available space for local economic development, development of food policy and safety standards within a vibrant local food system