| dc.description.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 | en_US |
