IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rbs/ijbrss/v10y2021i3p450-455.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enhancing food security through home gardening in urbanizing environment in Machakos County, Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Julius Huho

    (Associate Professor, School of Arts and Social Sciences, Garissa University, Kenya)

  • Margaret Muriuki

    (Lecturer, School of Business, Karatina University, Kenya)

Abstract

Kenya is rapidly urbanizing at an annual rate of about 4.3%. One of the consequences of urbanization has been the problem of food insecurity in peri-urban areas. Increased migration to urban from rural areas has enhanced food insecurity in these areas. The peri-urban area of Kangundo-Tala in Machakos County is one of the fastest-growing peri-urban areas due to its proximity to the capital city of Nairobi. This study investigated the impact of home gardening in enhancing food security in the rapidly urbanizing middle-income Kangundo–Tala peri-urban areas of Machakos County, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were: to identify the causes of households’ food insecurity in the study area; to examine the factors influencing the adoption of home gardening and; to establish the role of home gardening as a measure of households’ food security. To measure food security, three consumption behaviors were analyzed: consumption changes, food expenditure reduction and income expansion. A qualitative approach was adopted where a total of 120 newly settled households were interviewed. The three main causes of food insecurity were identified (i) small land sizes, (ii) low and erratic rainfall and, (iii) the socialization of peri-urban dwellers. About 68% of the households were practicing at least one form of home gardening. The need for safe and nutritious food, seasonal unavailability, and inaccessibility of food encouraged the establishment of home gardens. From the gardens, households were able to diversify their diets, access safe food and have food readily available. With enhanced stability in food availability, accessibility, and utilization, the study concluded that home gardens played a major role in enhancing food. However, the production was at a very small scale. Up-scaling of home gardening by the Ministry of Agriculture through training was recommended. Key Words: Home gardening, urbanizing environment, food security

Suggested Citation

  • Julius Huho & Margaret Muriuki, 2021. "Enhancing food security through home gardening in urbanizing environment in Machakos County, Kenya," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(3), pages 450-455, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:10:y:2021:i:3:p:450-455
    DOI: 10.20525/ijrbs.v10i3.1132
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/1132/868
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v10i3.1132
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.20525/ijrbs.v10i3.1132?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nolwazi Zanele Khumalo & Melusi Sibanda, 2019. "Does Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Contribute to Household Food Security? An Assessment of the Food Security Status of Households in Tongaat, eThekwini Municipality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, February.
    2. Courtney Gallaher & John Kerr & Mary Njenga & Nancy Karanja & Antoinette WinklerPrins, 2013. "Urban agriculture, social capital, and food security in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(3), pages 389-404, September.
    3. Cohen, Barney, 2004. "Urban Growth in Developing Countries: A Review of Current Trends and a Caution Regarding Existing Forecasts," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 23-51, January.
    4. Zezza, Alberto & Tasciotti, Luca, 2010. "Urban agriculture, poverty, and food security: Empirical evidence from a sample of developing countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 265-273, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eunice Achieng Anyona & Joyce Obuoyo & Irene Mutavi, 2024. "Influence of Home Gardening on Household Food Security in Rarieda Sub-County of Siaya County in Kenya," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(6), pages 111-128, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sayaka Ushimaru & Rintaro Iwata & Eka Rastiyanto Amrullah & Arini W. Utami & Akira Ishida, 2024. "Which Households Raise Livestock in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas of Eight Developing Asian Countries?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Poulsen, Melissa N. & McNab, Philip R. & Clayton, Megan L. & Neff, Roni A., 2015. "A systematic review of urban agriculture and food security impacts in low-income countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 131-146.
    3. Leslie Gray & Laureen Elgert & Antoinette WinklerPrins, 2020. "Theorizing urban agriculture: north–south convergence," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 869-883, September.
    4. Ustaoglu, E. & Sisman, S. & Aydınoglu, A.C., 2021. "Determining agricultural suitable land in peri-urban geography using GIS and Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 455(C).
    5. Davies, Julia & Hannah, Corrie & Guido, Zack & Zimmer, Andrew & McCann, Laura & Battersby, Jane & Evans, Tom, 2021. "Barriers to urban agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    6. Stella Nordhagen & Khadidjatou Thiam & Souleymane Sow, 2019. "The sustainability of a nutrition-sensitive agriculture intervention: a case study from urban Senegal," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(5), pages 1121-1134, October.
    7. Michelle Chihambakwe & Paramu Mafongoya & Obert Jiri, 2018. "Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture as A Pathway to Food Security: A Review Mapping the Use of Food Sovereignty," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    8. Ivica Petrikova & Melvine Anyango Otieno & Gertrude Were & Mahmoud Eltholth & Ana Rodriguez Mateos & Seeromanie Harding & Victoria Moran & Odipo Osano & Jennifer Cole, 2024. "Peri-urban agriculture and household food and nutrition security around Eldoret, Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 16(5), pages 1235-1263, October.
    9. Mackay, Heather, 2018. "Mapping and characterising the urban agricultural landscape of two intermediate-sized Ghanaian cities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 182-197.
    10. Ward, Catherine D. & Shackleton, Charlie M., 2016. "Natural Resource Use, Incomes, and Poverty Along the Rural–Urban Continuum of Two Medium-Sized, South African Towns," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 80-93.
    11. Ishak Norziha & Abdullah Rosazlin & Rosli Noor Sharina Mohd & Majid Hazreenbdul & Halim Nur Sa’adah Abdul & Ariffin Fazilah, 2022. "Challenges of Urban Garden Initiatives for Food Security in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 41(4), pages 57-72, December.
    12. Feyisayo A Odunitan-Wayas & Mieke Faber & Amy E Mendham & Julia H Goedecke & Lisa K Micklesfield & Naomi E Brooks & Dirk L Christensen & Iain J Gallagher & Kathryn H Myburgh & Angus M Hunter & Estelle, 2021. "Food Security, Dietary Intake, and Foodways of Urban Low-Income Older South African Women: An Exploratory Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-14, April.
    13. Gore, Christopher D., 2018. "How African cities lead: Urban policy innovation and agriculture in Kampala and Nairobi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 169-180.
    14. Wang, Bo & Li, Fan & Feng, Shuyi & Shen, Tong, 2020. "Transfer of development rights, farmland preservation, and economic growth: a case study of Chongqing’s land quotas trading program," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    15. Lara Cockx & Nathalie Francken, 2016. "Evolution and impact of EU aid for food and nutrition security: a review," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven 540512, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    16. Ulep, Valerie Gilbert T. & Ortiz, Danica Aisa P. & Go, John Juliard & Duante, Charmaine & Gonzales, Rosa C. & Mendoza, Laurita R. & Reyes, Clarissa & Elgo, Frances Rose & Aldeon, Melanie P., 2012. "Inequities in Noncommunicable Diseases," Discussion Papers DP 2012-04, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    17. Suchá, Lenka & Dušková, Lenka, 2022. "Land access mechanisms of Soweto farmers: Moving beyond legal land tenure for urban agriculture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    18. Sean Fox & Robin Bloch & Jose Monroy, 2018. "Understanding the dynamics of Nigeria’s urban transition: A refutation of the ‘stalled urbanisation’ hypothesis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(5), pages 947-964, April.
    19. Gurgel, Angelo Costa, 2007. "Trade Agreements and their Impacts on the Familiar Agriculture in Brazil," Conference papers 331587, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    20. José Armando Cobián Álvarez & Budy P. Resosudarmo, 2019. "The cost of floods in developing countries’ megacities: a hedonic price analysis of the Jakarta housing market, Indonesia," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 21(4), pages 555-577, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:10:y:2021:i:3:p:450-455. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Umit Hacioglu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ssbffea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.