Determinants of food security in Kenya, a gender perspective

dc.creatorNdiritu, Simon
dc.creatorKassie, Menale
dc.creatorShiferaw, Bekele
dc.date07/07/2014
dc.dateMon, 7 Jul 2014
dc.dateMon, 7 Jul 2014 14:29:57
dc.dateMon, 7 Jul 2014 14:29:57
dc.date.accessioned2015-03-18T11:29:13Z
dc.date.available2015-03-18T11:29:13Z
dc.descriptionContributed Paper prepared for presentation at the 86th Annual Conference of the Agricultural Economics Society, University of Warwick, United Kingdom 16 - 18 April 2012
dc.descriptionThe paper contributes to an understanding of the determinants of food security with a bias on the link between gender of household head and food security using detailed farm household and plot level survey data from 30 divisions in rural Kenya. Both parametric and non-parametric econometric techniques are used to ensure robustness of the results from the econometric analyses. Since the assumption of pooled regression is rejected, we run separate food security regressions at plot level both for Male Headed Households (MHHs) and Female Headed Households (FHHs). Both descriptive and econometrics results shows that FHHs in general are more likely to be food insecure compared to their male counterparts. The analysis further reveals that Female Headed Householdsā€˜ food security increases with quality of extension workers; land quality, farm size while distance to the market reduces the probability of food security. For the quality of extension staff, policy makers should focus on improving the skill of extension staff for efficient and effective dissemination of technologies and other important information that has impact on food security. Since area expansion is infeasible due to land scarcity in Kenya, policy makers focusing on land augmenting practices can help farm households to escape food insecurity.
dc.description.abstractThe paper contributes to an understanding of the determinants of food security with a bias on the link between gender of household head and food security using detailed farm household and plot level survey data from 30 divisions in rural Kenya. Both parametric and non-parametric econometric techniques are used to ensure robustness of the results from the econometric analyses. Since the assumption of pooled regression is rejected, we run separate food security regressions at plot level both for Male Headed Households (MHHs) and Female Headed Households (FHHs). Both descriptive and econometrics results shows that FHHs in general are more likely to be food insecure compared to their male counterparts. The analysis further reveals that Female Headed Householdsā€˜ food security increases with quality of extension workers; land quality, farm size while distance to the market reduces the probability of food security. For the quality of extension staff, policy makers should focus on improving the skill of extension staff for efficient and effective dissemination of technologies and other important information that has impact on food security. Since area expansion is infeasible due to land scarcity in Kenya, policy makers focusing on land augmenting practices can help farm households to escape food insecurity.
dc.identifier
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11071/3785
dc.languageeng
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dc.subjectfood security
dc.subjectgender
dc.subjectparametric and non-parametric methods
dc.subjectKenya
dc.titleDeterminants of food security in Kenya, a gender perspective
dc.typeConference Paper
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Contributed Paper prepared for presentation at the 86th Annual Conference of the Agricultural Economics Society, University of Warwick, United Kingdom 16 - 18 April 2012