Impact of the Legal and Policy Frameworks on Food Security in Kenya: the Case of Laikipia County

Abstract

The Legal and policy frameworks on food are established to assist in coordination of agricultural activities, manage food supply chain, and guarantee food availability for the future. In the Kenyan context, the country has a National Food and Nutrition Security Policy Implementation Framework and other separate legal instruments for managing the food situation in Kenya. However, the link between the effectiveness of Kenya’s food legal and policy frameworks and food security in the country has never been established due to inadequate research in this field. This study sought to fill this gap. The following specific objectives guided the study: to assess the levels of food security in households in Laikipia County; to establish the adequacy of the legal and policy frameworks regulating food systems in Laikipia County; to investigate challenges facing the implementation of legal and policy frameworks regulating food systems in Laikipia County; to document role of Laikipia County Government in food security, and to establish the optimal regulatory arrangement guaranteeing food security for people in Laikipia County. This study aimed to benefit Laikipia County Government, Government of Kenya, farmers in Laikipia County, agricultural policy developers, scholars and academicians and other stakeholders in assessing food security in Laikipia County and how it be improved. This study supported by Brundtland 1987 Sustainable Development theory as it relates to food sustainability. Due to logistical challenges and time constraints this study adopted purposive sampling to select 10 Laikipia farmers’ representatives that sits Executive Committee for interviews. The study also purposively selected (5) Laikipia County Department of Agriculture officials and 3 national government agricultural and food security experts from the Ministry of Agriculture for interviews. In conclusions, the study findings revealed there were several legal, administrational, financial, operational, land ownership, wildlife related, farmers related, and climatic related challenges that need addressed to boost implementation of food frameworks in Laikipia County. To address financial inadequacy in agriculture, this study recommends both Laikipia County Government and Government of Kenya should comply with (CAADP) provision of 10 percent of total annual budgets allocation toward boosting agricultural productivity. To address failure by Laikipia county officials to understand contents of NFNSP-IF (2017-2022) well and its operational tools; all stakeholders should establish forums, seminars, or workshops where all food frameworks regulating Kenya’s food and agricultural industry should be discussed, sensitized, and reviewed with the aim to improve their implementations. To address constant human wildlife conflict and destruction of crops, all protected areas harbouring wildlife should be fenced and all protocols reviewed between animals and humans. This study recommends Laikipia County Government to undertake comprehensive staff competency assessment to make the county become effective to farmers, in food productions and the implementations of food frameworks. See section 5.4 for further recommendations. This study suggests that similar studies replicated in other counties in Kenya to determine the trends, reliability, validity, and accuracy in the field of food security.