Food insecurity is prevalent in most of the developing countries including Kenya. The design and implementation of sustainable strategies in addressing food insecurity requires an in depth understanding of its covariates. As a result, this paper estimated covariates of perceived of food insecurity among households in the slopes of Mt. Kenya, an area perceived to be food secure. In order to achieve this objective, proportionate stratified sampling method was used to select sample in Ngariama location, Kirinyaga and simple random sampling was utilized to identify individual households.

This study contributes to the literature and policy on the impact of partial and package adoption of inorganic fertilizers and improved maize varieties on yields among smallholder households in Kenya. We use a blend of the quasi-experimental difference-in-differences approach and propensity score matching to control for both time-variant and time-invariant unobservable household heterogeneity. Our findings show that inorganic fertilizers and improved maize varieties significantly improve yields when adopted as a package rather than as individual elements.

This study quantifies the adoption of improved amaranth varieties in Kenya and Tanzania, and the extent to which these result from international vegetable breeding research conducted by the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) and partners. The study used expert elicitation and a questionnaire survey among vegetable seed producers. Nine expert panels were conducted involving 123 local experts. The results show that improved amaranth varieties were planted on 51% of the planted area in Kenya and 70% in Tanzania.

Drought is a major threat to people's food security and livelihoods in arid and semi-arid lands in drought-prone developing countries. The traditional responses to drought management have been largely reactive. The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of the choice behind the various livestock management of pastoralists in Laikipia North, Kenya, as a proxy for understanding their preparedness to cope with future droughts.

While a better understanding of factors influencing adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices is important in promoting successful climate change adaptation strategies, there is little information on the various practices adopted by smallholders. Accordingly, this study analyses the factors influencing adoption of CSA practices in Bungoma, County. The study adopted a descriptive research design.

Climate change and climate variability affect weather patterns and cause shifts in seasons with serious repercussions such as declining food production and productivity for communities and households in Kenya. To mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and variability, farming households have been encouraged to adopt different strategies such as new crop varieties, crop and livestock diversification, and water-harvesting technologies.

Avocado is a non-traditional export crop of economic importance in Kenya. Commercialization of the fruit through contract farming is a viable alternative for improving the welfare of majority of smallholder farmers involved in its production. This paper explores factors influencing the participation of smallholder farmers in avocado contract farming and decomposes those contributing to differentials in quality and quantities of fruit harvested and sold by contract and non-contract farmers.

Commodity price cycles can arise when there is a tendency to invest more (less) when current prices are high (low). Traditionally this behavior is interpreted as based upon naïve expectations. However, weak financial institutions can also cause this behavior. When borrowing is hard and saving is risky farmers cannot invest

There has been a growing interest in biofuel production to reduce oil dependence in the transportation sector. However, this has also sparked a debate on how the introduction of biofuels may jeopardize food security. In this paper we evaluate the effects of biofuel production on food security using system dynamics. First, we developed a system dynamics model to understand the long-term interaction between food production, biofuel production and livestock farming. Then, we calibrated and applied the model to the Colombian case.

In recent decades, the literature on ecosystem services has pointed to the need to quantify and characterise Soil Natural Capital (SNC) under different types of land use and cover. This points to the need of understanding the SNC processes which define the provision of ecosystem services, as well as their changes through anthropogenic time. Tropical regions are subjected to a high rate of land use transformation which may change the properties of the soil, and consequently the potential provision of ecosystem services.