Household Vulnerability to Food Insecurity and the Regional Food Insecurity Gap in Kenya

Abstract

Food insecurity remains a vital concern in Kenya. Vulnerable members of the population, such as children, the elderly, marginalised ethnic minorities, and low-income households, are disproportionately affected by food insecurity. Following the pioneering work of Sen, which examined exposure to food insecurity at a household level using his “entitlement approach”, this paper estimates households’ vulnerability to food insecurity. In turn, the outcome variable is decomposed in order to explain the food insecurity gap between households classified as “marginalised” and “non-marginalised”. We applied the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method to examine vulnerability to food insecurity and, in particular, contributions of observed differences in socio-demographic characteristics (endowments) or differences in the returns to these characteristics, which, in our context, is associated with poor public services and infrastructure in the vicinity of the household. The results indicated that differences in vulnerability to food insecurity were mainly attributable to observed differences in socio-demographic characteristics such as education, age, and household income. Therefore, policies seeking to attain equity by investment into targeted household characteristics in terms of access to food and other productive resources could effectively combat food insecurity. For example, policymakers could develop programs for household inclusiveness using education and social protection programs, including insurance schemes against risk of endowment loss.

Food insecurity and levels of marginalization: food accessibility, consumption and concern in Mexico

“…Daily family dynamics incorporate tactics to prioritize family members who could experience major nutritional risk with the lack of food as other investigations have shown [ 26 ]. Our findings parallel literature that examines highly marginalized environments [ 24 , 27 ], where people face food insecurity regularly [ 44 .…”

“…A plethora of factors generate food insecurity including mounting poverty, unemployment, and inflation [ 21 ]. Based on the study’s findings, the level of marginalization also influences food insecurity in the surveyed urban and semi-urban communities of Ciudad de Mexico, Estado de Mexico, Oaxaca, and Tamaulipas, as already discussed by other studies [ 22 , 24 ]. Each factor or the interrelation among different circumstances affects food accessibility and consumption as well as concern about food scarcity.…”

“…In turn, food becomes more expensive given the incurred cost in transportation to obtain it. Thus, levels of marginalization generate distinct degrees of food insecurity [ 24 ]. Semi-urban areas are estimated to face food insecurity more often due to their disconnection with urban centers.…”

Diet diversity, malnutrition and health: Evidence from Kenya

“…Rural location has a negative impact on diet diversity, perhaps because a larger proportion of rural households are subsistence farmers. This suggests investment in rural household production capacity could result in reducing poverty, increasing food security, improving nutrition, and strengthening resilience (Korir et al, 2021). Turning to regional effects on diet diversity demand, the Coast, North-eastern, Eastern, Rift-valley and Nairobi provinces have a negative effect on diet diversity.…”

Ethnicity, social connectedness, and the rural-urban food continuum: Food security among urban informal settlement dwellers in Kenya

“…Several studies have investigated urban food security in Kenya, primarily concentrated on rural food insecurity, while the distinct challenges urban informal settlements face have received less attention. Studies that have focused on urban food security have either relied on cross-sectional data to disentangle the problem [ 13 , 14 ] (e.g., Gallaher et al, 2013; Soma et al, 2022) or not recognized the interplay of social or cultural connectedness and role of rural-urban food systems in explaining gaps in food security outcomes among urban populations living on informal settlements [ [19] , [20] , [21] ] (e.g., Korir et al, 2022; Kimani-Murage et al, 2014; Omondi et al, 2017). Furthermore, although studies several studies in Kenya have investigated the potential role of rural-urban food continuum in enhancing food security in urban areas [ [22] , [23] , [24] ] (Onyango et al, 2021; Merchant et al, 2022; Onyango et al, 2023), they overlook region of origin of urban populations and do not employ the decomposition analysis method to explore the differential impacts of rural-urban food continuum and social connectedness on urban food systems outcomes.…”