| dc.description.abstract | Despite the concerted efforts at global and national levels to fight food insecurity, undernourishment and deplorable livelihoods are still rampant in the world and particularly in developing countries Kenya included. Food insecurity in Kenya is estimated at over 25 percent of the total population, with about 1.5 million people requiring emergency food assistance annually. While agricultural productivity in general appears to be increasing in Kenya, rising land pressures in the more densely populated areas is a major threat to future household farm land sizes and uses, food, nutrition and livelihood security. This study (i) determined the current household land size and uses and their impact on food and livelihood security, (ii) analyzed the factors that influence the size and uses of household land in the sub-location, (iii) interrogated inter-generational transmission of land rights and (iv) proposed planning interventions that can create sustainable land size for food and livelihood security in maize farming systems of Matetani Sub-location. The study used a descriptive survey design. The number of households in each village formed the sampling frame and stratified random sampling method was used to select households from each village. Extreme case sampling was also done to identify five farmers with the largest land sizes and five with the smallest land sizes. Inter-generational lineage sampling was done by identifying the three oldest men and the three oldest women in the sub-location. Key informants were selected using purposive sampling. The total number of households interviewed in the sub-location was 140. Data analysis was by use of SPSS software and descriptive methods. Data representation was through charts, cross tabulations and narratives. The findings revealed average household land size of 2.19 acres with the majority of the households having 2 acres. Agricultural land uses were categorized into three; cash crop, food crops and pasture with cash crop and food crop land use found to have positive and significant relationship with the household food security. Hypothesis test results showed that household land size had a positive and significant effect on household food security as supported by a P value of 0.009 which is less than 0.05. The study concluded that, household land size had been diminishing while the population has been growing tremendously causing to low productivity and a mean household food security index was 0.822 which implies that the most households were food insecure. The study further concluded that, other than the current small farm sizes and inappropriate land uses in the area, food security in Matetani Sub-location had been compounded further by, adverse environmental conditions such as soil erosion, water logging and unreliable weather patterns; poor land management practices; low adaptation of technology; lack of access to credit; lack of secure land tenure; unregulated culture of inheritance and inefficient extension services. The study thus recommends implementation of policy through the National Land Commission that discourages land subdivision in farms below 3.42 acres. However, the policy should be reviewed as land productivity increases through use of appropriate technologies making it possible for the land to support more people per hectare. For intergenerational land transmission, the study recommends that, the government through the Ministry of Education should ensure that each child gets quality education as a substitute for land inheritance so as to break away from the culture of land inheritance. Through Multiple Regression Model the study found out that, the combined effect of the predictor variables (household land size, age of household head, household size, off farm income and land management practices) explains 56.42% of the variations in household food security in the study area. Thus for further research, the study recommended that, a more explicit research should be carried out to explain the remaining variables contributing to 43.58% of household food security so as to give conclusive measures. | en_US |
