Influence of government's agricultural subsidies on food security in Kasipul Division; Homa Bay County

Abstract

This study examined the influence of government's agricultural subsidies on food security in Kasipul division; Homa bay county, Kenya. A report by United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development on food security, established that poverty eradication, agriculture and food security have moved to the centre stage of the global development agenda. They are the greatest global challenges facing the world today. They are indispensable requirements for sustainable development, particularly for developing countries, and at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg in 2002, the international community reaffirmed its commitment to develop national and local programmes for sustainable development, poverty eradication and food security .(WSSD, 2002).

As the Kenya government continues to operationalise the Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS), Vision 2030 and the National Input Accelerated Programme (NAIP) there is need to address the influence of its subsidy programme on food security. The purpose of the study was therefore to determine the influence of use governments' agricultural subsidies on food security in Kasipul Division. The study sought attain the following objectives which include determining the extent to which time of distribution, training of farmers on the use of subsidy, how access to information of the subsidy programme, how the type and quantity of subsidy and extent to which farm visit and monitoring influence the use of the government's agricultural subsidies on food security.

The study adopted a descriptive survey design where qualitative and quantitative data were collected, and targeted all the farmers that benefited under the governments subsidy programme in Kasipul Division, the District Agricultural Officer, Divisional Agricultural Officer and the Extension Officers. Structured questionnaire and interview schedules were be used to gather information from 6 agricultural office personnel and twenty percent of the target population of 752 which is 150 respondents.

The validity of the content was established through judgement whereas reliability was ascertained through test-retest method. The presentation and interpretations was done through the use frequency tables and percentages. The findings showed time of distribution of subsidies, training farmers, access to information and the quality, quantity and type of inputs are the major influences of the use of government's agricultural subsidies in enhancing food security in kasipul division. Others were dependence on rain fed agriculture, inadequate financing and inadequate agricultural personnel. Conclusions and recommendations were then made.