FAO+-+KENYA

Madeline Kujawa

Madeline Kujawa Anne Arundel County FAO- Kenya Arundel High


 * Access to food in post conflict situations**

The security of food strongly correlates to the occurrence of conflict, but the relations between them have made it difficult to determine which affects the other more drastically. In areas with previous conflict, violence is more prevalent. To ensure success to both food security and peace it is imperative that economic programs in the form of agriculture are developed.

Kenya’ s government is responsible for making sure its people have an adequate food supply , they have had mixed success in doing so. Food security is closely related to poverty, which effects over half the country. Unfortunately, high food prices and the low purchasing power for the majority of the country due to poverty make it extremely difficult to provide for the nations needs. In the 2007 Economic review of agriculture, it was found that fifty seven percent of Kenyans did not have adequate access to food. The agricultural sector contributes to twenty four percent of Kenya’s gross domestic product and to sixty four percent of total employment. Kenya's climate also greatly affects the agriculture, over eighty percent of the country has an arid and dry climate not ideal for growing crops. Another issue that hinders Kenya's agricultural success is its weather. Depending the rain fall the    crop production     can be greatly affected, due to the frequency of droughts throughout the country. With the production of varying crop sizes it is crucial to find a more promising method of food security. The   high cost    of domestic   food production   due to the costs of equipment or chemicals make it hard to produce the maximum amount of crops. The displacement of farmers post conflict also weaken the availability of food.

The varying amount of crops produced due to poor weather, climate, high food prices and low financial availability, greatly affect the people of Kenya. The mass amounts of malnutrition leads to death and the inability to contribute to the good of society. This in turns affects the economy which then causes the  quality of life   to decrease due to poverty an food shortages.

A solution to provide the people of Kenya with better food security is to add more farmland and increase crop production. This is needed to provide more food security throughout the country, in doing so more jobs would be provided along with the decrease of poverty due to the new found job access. In order to combat weak food    security programs     could be put into place that would improve irrigation techniques, that would allow more farmland to be put into use and a more bountiful harvests in order to improve crop production.


 * Poverty Reduction through Agriculture **

Since the agricultural sector of Kenya makes up the vast majority of the economic income for its citizens, it is crucial that it be a healthy, growing sector. The relationship between poverty and the success of farmers strongly correlates. Thirty percent of the country is in extreme poverty. Many factors make it difficult to have a stable income as a farmer that meets your needs. These include but are not limited to; high material cost, harsh arid climate, droughts and unpredictable weather, displacement of farmers, and minimal land for agriculture.

Though Kenya has a majority of its citizens in extreme poverty, it has a promising future due to its advances in infrastructure, governing, and public sector capacity. The future of Kenya depends on the alleviation of poverty, this would increase economic growth. The poverty of Kenya can be harshly dedicated to the instability of the agricultural sector. Kenya has done little to pass laws that help combat poverty, or increase economic production. The corruption of the government in mostly to blame for the lack of progress in those areas. This makes it harder for the people, farmers especially to have adequate food and supplies for their families.

To combat these issues a new, productive system of government needs to be put into place that passes laws regarding trade, the economy, land reforms, and grants to help farmers. Along with new irrigation techniques and additional land for farmers, the people of Kenya would be better able to provide for their families, increase trade, increase economic growth, and agricultural profits.