Action - Feed the Future: The U.S. Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative - Home, school or community gardening - Women of reproductive age (WRA)

Programme: Feed the Future: The U.S. Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative

Programme description

Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, is establishing a lasting foundation for progress against global hunger. With a focus on smallholder farmers, particularly women, Feed the Future supports partner countries in developing their agriculture sectors to spur economic growth that increases incomes and reduces hunger, poverty, and undernutrition. Feed the Future efforts are driven by country-led priorities and rooted in partnership with donor organizations, the private sector, and civil society to enable long-term success. Feed the Future aims to assist millions of vulnerable women, children, and family members to escape hunger and poverty, while also reaching significant numbers of children with highly effective nutrition interventions to prevent stunting and child mortality.

Over the next five years in Kenya, Feed the Future aims to help an estimated 502,000 vulnerable Kenyan women, children and family members—mostly smallholder farmers—escape hunger and poverty. More than 230,000 children will be reached with services to improve their nutrition and prevent stunting and child mortality. Significant numbers of additional rural populations will achieve improved income and nutritional status from strategic policy engagement and institutional investments.

To meet its objectives, Feed the Future Kenya is making core investments in three key areas:

  1. Maize and Drought-Tolerant Staple Crop Value Chain  Kenya’s maize subsector is approaching a critical time when input supply characteristics, land reform, availability of supporting factors of production, and market price dynamics will define the competitiveness of the industry in the mid to long term. This environment presents an opportune moment for the U.S. Government’s current and future investments. At the same time, there has been a dearth of investment in alternative staple crops and, as a result, there is a lack of data. In collaboration with the private sector, Feed the Future will support value chain assessments that deepen and fill gaps in existing knowledge.
  2. Dairy Value Chain  Africa is a large net importer of milk products, and demand is growing as urbanization accelerates and incomes increase on the continent. Kenya’s dairy industry is one of the largest and most developed in Africa. Strengthening the dairy sector to meet growing domestic demand and to compete regionally can only be achieved by promoting profitable production of high quality milk at farm level and the more efficient movement of volumes of milk between farmers and processors—thereby leading to higher levels of processor plant capacity and lower consumer prices.
  3. Horticulture Value Chain  While local market demand for new and better horticulture products is high, growth has been constrained by chaotic and unhygienic urban market facilities that keep prices high and quality low. To take advantage of the strong market opportunities, Kenyan growers, traders, processors, exporters, and policy makers need access to timely and accurate production and market information. They must also comply with food safety and environmental and ethical trade practices. Moreover, for smallholders to increase and diversify their production, expanded adoption of on-farm water capture and storage, drip irrigation, precision fertilizer systems, greenhouses, and other technologies will be essential. Feed the Future Kenya helps to foster technology transfer; strengthen linkages between growers, microprocessors, and larger-scale secondary processors; build the capacity of national institutions and trade associations; and obtain consensus on enabling environmental policies.

Target Regions

Feed the Future is targeting high-rainfall areas with dense populations, high poverty and malnourishment, as well as semi-arid areas. Both areas have great potential for raising agricultural productivity. These target areas also encompass the highest concentrations of malnourished children, female-headed households, and rural poor.

Highlights

Science and Technology. U.S. support to the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute focuses on research on crops for the semi-arid zone, including improved seeds, pest control, and food safety for maize, sorghum, millet, sweet potato, cowpea, and pigeon pea. Feed the Future also works with the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services to increase quality and availability of drought-tolerant crops and varieties.

Engaging Women and Youth. Feed the Future supports activities that empower women and improve the nutritional status of women and children. Women manage an estimated 44 percent of Kenya’s smallholder households and are active at every point in the food chain. Their contribution to commodities, grown mainly in home gardens, is quite significant, providing essential nutrients and often the only food available during the lean seasons or when the main harvest fails. Feed the Future will also engage youth in farming, processing and trading to relieve high levels of youth unemployment. More than 67 percent of the under- and unemployed in Kenya are young women and men of 15 to 30 years of age.

Value Chains. Feed the Future is focusing its efforts on improving several key agricultural value chains: horticulture, dairy and maize for the High Rainfall (HR) areas; and drought-tolerant crops (sorghum/millet and root crop systems), drought-tolerant maize, horticulture, and pulses for Semi-Arid (SA) areas. Attention is focused on every “link” in the value chain—from inputs like fertilizer and seeds, to credit, to production methods, storage, transport, processing, farmers’ cooperatives, and markets in Kenya, East Africa and overseas.

Programme type

Multi-national

References

Status: 
On-going

Start date:

January
2011

End date:

September
2015
Area: 
Rural
Peri-urban
Place: 
High rainfall zone 1 and Semi-Arid zone 2
Target group: 
Women of reproductive age (WRA)
Delivery: 
Community-based
Implementation details : 

HORTICULTURE VALUE CHAIN

Horticulture has a distinct link to decreasing under-nutrition. Promoting production and marketing of high-nutrition horticultural crops and increasing messaging about the nutritional benefits associated with highly nutritious horticultural products will encourage increased consumption of these foods. For example, kitchen and community gardens provide excellent sources of nutrition for those who have limited access to land and/or resources. These gardens are also often managed by women. Decision-making over products from ―kitchen gardens‖ is often relegated to women for household consumption. Also, women earn direct income from marketing of surpluses from kitchen gardens.

KHCP is currently working in seven zones, including the HR1 and SA2 regions. Consequently, during the course of the FTFS implementation but in a deliberate timed fashion, the KHCP will evolve its program of activities to focus on the HR1 and SA2 regions.

Currently, KHCP expects to have the following impacts by February 2015, but these will be revised in accordance with the smooth transition to the new focus areas:

  • Wide range of new, value-added products with greater and more sustainable export potential;
  • State-of-the-art national production and market intelligence system available to all stakeholders;
  • Improved market access with enhanced protection for consumers and the environment; and
  • Expanded economic activity and new opportunities for thousands of profitable, productive enterprises.
Target population size : 
Estimated 502,000 vulnerable Kenyan women, children and family members—mostly smallholder farmers—escape hunger and poverty. More than 230,000 children will be reached with services to improve their nutrition and prevent stunting and child mortality.
Coverage level (%): 
.
Outcome indicator(s): 
  • Increase incomes through intensification & market linkages
  • Increase incomes through higher value crops, market linkages & resiliency
M&E system: 

The Mission is currently reviewing options for reinforcing its existing monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework by establishing a comprehensive knowledge management system that builds links to ongoing initiatives aimed at strengthening U.S. Government, national and regional agriculture sector-wide M&E and knowledge management.

USAID/K will link to the GOK-led and CAADP-mandated ―National Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation System‖ which will serve as a mutually agreed framework for performance monitoring towards the goal of increasing food security. The Mission also will link its knowledge management system to the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS), an information and knowledge management initiative, to promote and support effective and sustainable agricultural and rural development strategies across Africa. Through ReSAKSS, the Mission will collaborate with the USAID/EA and other Missions in Africa in tracking intra-regional trade data. The Mission will also use ReSAKSS to provide meta-analyses contributing to synthesized studies suitable for shared learning by numerous stakeholders.

The Mission will utilize the following tools in establishing and maintaining its M&E efforts: The Mission’s FTFS Results Framework which is the conceptual and analytical structure that establishes the goals and objectives of the FTF Initiative in Kenya; A performance monitoring/management plan (PMP) comprised of standard and custom FTF performance indicators to track progress toward desired results. Data systems will be developed and refined based on findings of a Mission-wide data quality assessment (DQA) carried out in March/April 2011; Tegemeo Institute poverty analyses in conjunction with Africa Bureau/Sustainable Development Office (AFR/SD); The Mission will undertake local capacity-building investments to improve the quality and frequency of data collection and use; Biannual independent indicator surveys by Tegemeo Institute to gauge progress made towards achieving results and a feedback loop to improve performance; Mid-term and impact evaluations will be carried out to determine the measureable effects of the FTFS investments; and The Mission will engage in regular knowledge-sharing activities with FTFS development partners and implementers to foster learning and use of M&E findings.

Baseline: 
Number of new technologies or management practices made available for transfer as a result of USG assistance; Number of rural households benefiting directly from USG interventions; Number of producers organizations, water users associations, trade and business associations, and community-based organizations (CBOs) receiving USG assistance; Percentage of children < 5 years who are underweight
Post-intervention: 

Number of new technologies or management practices made available for transfer as a result of USG assistance; Number of rural households benefiting directly from USG interventions; Number of producers organizations, water users associations, trade and business associations, and community-based organizations (CBOs) receiving USG assistance; Percentage of children < 5 years who are underweight

Outcome reported by social determinants: 
Sex

Tabs

Revision log

DateUserLogState
Sat, 03/23/2013 - 20:58william_nkoomEdited by william_nkoom.draft
Sat, 03/23/2013 - 20:57william_nkoomEdited by william_nkoom.published
Sat, 03/23/2013 - 20:37AnnaLarteyEdited by AnnaLartey.needs_review
Sat, 03/23/2013 - 20:28AnnaLarteyEdited by AnnaLartey.draft
Sat, 03/23/2013 - 19:44AnnaLarteyEdited by AnnaLartey.draft
Sat, 03/23/2013 - 19:06AnnaLarteyEdited by AnnaLartey.draft
Sat, 03/23/2013 - 18:44AnnaLarteyEdited by AnnaLartey.draft