| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the study was to assess the factors contributing to the persistent food insecurity in Yatta District. The study sought to answer the following questions. What are the demographic characteristics of the respondents? To what extent do households maximize on seasonal food production in the district? at is the level of food security in the district? What is the relationship between demographic variables and household food security in the district and what are the gaps in addressing the food insecurity? The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was 19,349 poor households in the district. Three hundred and eighty eight households were sampled. To determine the sample size from each group, stratified random sampling was used. The various stratus used in the study were the various locations in the district. Sampling ratio was used to identify the actual sample size in each stratum.
Data was collected using questionnaires for household heads. Key informants such as agricultural officers, livestock officers, food aid and water officers were interviewed in order to gain more insight on the phenomenon. The data collected was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The study found that majority (55.9%) of the households, were headed by males. Majority (65.6%) of the family heads population fell in the age brackets 31-50 years. A higher proportion (45.2%) of the heads of households had primary level of education. Majority (56.4%) of the heads of the families were farmers with only a small percentage (18.1 %) engaging in business. Majority (63.3%) of the households had 3 or more children while 36.7 Percent of the households had up to two children. The study found that maize and beans were the main crops grown in both seasons. However, the number of households practicing maize and beans farming vary in the two seasons. For instance, in season one, 75.60 percent of the households engage in maize farming compared to 57.10 percent in season two.
The findings revealed that only a small portion of the population (10.8%) had enough of the kinds of food they wanted to eat. Majority (63.5%) of the households were severely food insecure with hunger. From the findings of the study, a combination of factors contributed to the persistent food insecurity in Yatta district. These include: the level of education of household head, occupation of the household head and the number of children in a household. This study has shown that food insecurity and vulnerability to food insecurity were higher in both male and female headed households.
The study concluded that unreliable rainfall and unreliable water for irrigation were the main factors affecting food production negatively in the district. Most of the households in Yatta district were food insecure with only a very small percentage being food secure. There were various interventions to improve food production in the district which failed due to unreliable rainfall, cost of farm inputs, lack of access to finances, lack of exotic livestock breeds, and lack of water for irrigation among others. Yatta district experiences repeated food insecurity that the government should focus on in order to improve on the food security in future.
Finally, it is recommended that Yatta community be encouraged to diversify to other livelihood strategies such as cattle rearing because it does better as compared to agriculture. The other recommendation is that supporting agencies should ensure that social networks are established with the aim of improving food availability, access, use and utilization for the people of Yatta district and other communities that have similar whether conditions. | en_US |
