About a year ago, in this column, I told the story of a
little girl who lives in Nairobi’s Mathare slum. It is a story worth telling
again, albeit to make a slightly different point. It was the story of
five-year-old Anita who was being treated with Plumpynut, which is a
high-energy therapeutic food for starving children. Anita’s
father makes Ksh. 200 a day (about $2.40).
A food security, vulnerability
and nutrition assessment conducted by the government of Kenya in 2010 revealed
that more than 25% of urban children were stunted while 13% of urban households
had unacceptably low levels of food consumption. The report also reveals that
child morbidity among urban households was about 30%, mainly owing to acute
respiratory infections, malaria and diarrhea.
A study on the prevalence and
depth of hunger in Nairobi conducted in 2011 by Egerton University’s Tegemeo
Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development showed that 44% of households
in Nairobi were under nourished with 20% being ultra-hungry, consuming less
than 1600 kilo calories per day, which is less than the minimum dietary energy
requirement of 2,133 Kilo calories per adult per day. In May 2012, the Ministry
of Special Programmes, distributed 4,800 bags of rice and soya and another 400
tins of cooking oil to poor households Nairobi, where it was estimated that 65%
were food insecure.
The study also showed that per
capita expenditure on food was decreasing, indicating increased food insecurity
among urban households. The retail prices for staple foods have increased by
over 150% in Nairobi slum markets in 2012.
Urban slums have become veritable “food deserts”, without access to
affordable food and saddled with the double whammy of hunger and malnutrition.
Today, over 30% of Kenya’s 41.6
million people live in urban areas. While Kenya’s total population will double
by 2045, the urban population will grow from the current 13 million to about 53
million. It is projected that Kenya will reach a spatial tipping point, when
half of the population lives in urban areas, three years after the expiry of
Vision 2030. Moreover, recent World Bank estimates suggest that the urban poor
will constitute 50% of Kenya’s poor.
Rapid urbanization, including
urban sprawl, declining land and labor productivity, low participation by youth
in agriculture, inequitable economic growth and a warming planet could exacerbate
food and nutritional insecurity among urban households. In the Bill of Rights,
under Kenya’s constitution, every person, including urban residents have a
right to be free from hunger, and to have adequate food of acceptable quality.
Food is therefore a critical national issue, which holds the key to population health,
social stability, economic growth and environmental sustainability.
Cities like Nairobi and must
lead the way in providing solutions to the urban food crisis. Under the
constitution, the powers and functions of the County Government include
Agriculture; crop, animal husbandry and fisheries. Counties therefore have the
powers to design food policy that integrates food and nutrition with social,
economic, health, safety and environmental goals. Urban agriculture, the
production of food within or on the fringe of cities, is not new and will endure.
Sustainable urban agriculture
is possible. In 1990 Havana, Cuba’s capital, did not have any land dedicated to
food production. In 2002, more than 86,450 acres of urban land was allocated to
intensive farming, producing more than 3.2 million tons of food. The urban
gardens have also become profitable enterprises provide employment for many
Cubans.
Nairobi City County must implement policies and programs
that allow residents, especially the urban poor, to grow, sell, buy and eat affordable
locally grown foods. Such policies will benefit population health, the local
economy and the urban environment. Here are some ideas to consider:
1. The County should conduct a
comprehensive assessment of public land and nominate suitable sites for urban
agriculture, hence integrating urban agriculture in urban planning;
2. The County should establish a countywide
urban agriculture initiative to support the establishment of urban crop,
poultry, fisheries and dairy production spaces. The initiative should provide
extension support including support and financial credit for hundreds of
informal settlement residents who are using sacks and permaculture techniques
to grow vegetables.
3. The County should invest in a
sustainable and resilient food system. This should include working with contiguous
counties, which supply most of Nairobi’s food and working with them to
strengthen food production, including providing a range of incentives to farmers
not to convert farmland to other uses.
a brilliant idea which must not only be limited to Nairobi but also to rest of the 47 counties across the nation. i do not know how this will play out in light with the new land policy. nevertheless, the initiative is likely to attract the young and educated Kenyans back to the farms, hence improve food security!
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