Food Poverty in Kisumu, Kenya

Abstract

This chapter investigates the extent of food insecurity in Kisumu and examines the sources of food of the city’s residents. Seventy-one percent of sampled households in Kisumu were found to be moderately or severely food insecure with limited dietary diversity. The chapter argues, on the basis of the Lived Poverty Index findings present here, that food insecurity in Kisumu is an outcome of poverty, but that this poverty needs to be understood as multidimensional. The policy discourse around food security in Kisumu centres on encouraging food production to alleviate food insecurity. However, just 1% of households reported sourcing food from growing in Kisumu in the past year, and 3% from livestock owned by the household. The vast majority of food was sourced from market sources. These findings on food sources in conjunction with Lived Poverty Index findings suggest that the problem of food insecurity is systemic and requires responses beyond providing access to land and the promotion of urban agriculture.