Abstract:
Climate variability and change has been found to be one of the factors that affect economies
leading to food insecurity in various parts of the world. Kenya is no exception. This study looks at
how climate variability has contributed to food insecurity in Kisii County, Kenya. The objectives
of this study is therefore to, (i) to examine the rainfall and temperature trends in Kisii County for
a period of 30 years, (ii) to examine the effect of climate variability on food production and (iii) to
assess the perception of local farmers on weather and climate information, (iv) to evaluate the
coping strategies adopted at household level to bridge the gap on food deficit and (v) to assess the
nutritional status of children and the elderly in Kisii County. The study was conducted in the larger
Kisii County. The data used was mainly rainfall and temperature data from meteorological stations
and sample data gathered from selected groups. The study population comprised of children
between 6 months and 59 months, household heads, elderly people and agricultural officers.
Purposive sampling was used to select agricultural officers while multistage sampling was used to
select respondents at household level. Primary data was collected by use of a pre-tested
questionnaire. The MUAC tape was used to collect nutritional status of children while BMI data
was obtained from elderly people. Mann Kendall statistic was used to determine whether the trend
of rainfall and temperature observed is significant while Chi-square test was used to determine
whether the coping strategies observed varied significantly at household level. From the analysis,
rainfall has not shown any significant change in Kisii County while temperature trend has been
significantly increasing over the years at 95% confidence level. This could explain the observed
reduction in river levels. Analysis of crop production and price trends of major food crops in Kisii
County showed a decreasing trend of food production leading to increase in price over the years.
This meant that farmers could not produce enough to take them to the next harvesting season
making farmers to adopt different coping strategies at household level which differed significantly
according to Chi-Square test. Malnutrition status of both elderly people above 59 years and
children between 6-59 months were similar with 23% of both children/elderly being severely
malnourished/malnourished.
This study has only looked at climatic factors such as rainfall and temperature. Other aspects such
as depth of underground water, ph level of soil and the effects of land fragmentation also need to
be looked at. This study is important to both farmers in choosing the right crop to plant, and policy
makers and planners in formulating the best mitigation and intervention strategies for Kisii County
food insecurity problem. This will further contribute to national efforts towards achievement of
vision 2030.
