Kenya

Some 11.2 million people in Kenya are malnourished. Approximately 71 percent of the population depends on agricultural livelihoods. In recent years, frequent and severe shocks to production systems, including floods and droughts, have had serious impacts on semi-nomadic areas. Negative effects have been further aggravated by outbreaks of animal diseases such as Rift Valley fever and peste des petits ruminants. Post-election violence in 2008 forced hundreds of thousands of farmers and pastoralists to abandon their homes, fields and production assets in the Rift Valley province. This area is the grain basket of Kenya, producing 70 percent of the staple maize crop. It is also one of the main milk producing areas of the country.

Video: FAO in Kenya

FAO's main in-country programmes

Special Programme for Food Security
FAO has been assisting Kenya to improve its food security since 1995 when the Special Programme for Food Security began its pilot phase. The initial focus was crop intensification, livestock diversification and water control. The programme initially covered rainfed soybean and maize-based systems in the western region, progressively expanding to central and coastal regions. A total of 585 farmers participated.

The technology promoted by the programme reached farmers quickly and was adopted in a short time. Demonstrations on farmers' fields elicited spontaneous uptake by other farmers in the project area. Many of the groups organized by the programme have continued to meet and try out new technologies on their own. The experiences have been taken up by other projects, using a Farmer Field School approach, notably in the coast province and western Kenya.

National Programme for Food Security
A National Programme for Food Security was formulated and funded by the Government of Kenya in 2005, with the support of the Millennium Project and FAO. It aims to help poor households improve their access to food. Firmly anchored in national development policies, and with the clear commitment and support of the UN system and other partners, the Government of Kenya is implementing a bold and ambitious ten-year implementation plan for hunger eradication in Kenya. It is being financed from public and private domestic resources and by development partners over the period 2005-2015. The main components of the programme are:

• community grants for agricultural productivity increase, capacity building, nutrition improvement and rural income generation; and
• school feeding programmes.

EMPRES animal health component
The FAO Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases (EMPRES) focuses on Rift Valley fever; peste des petits ruminants; rinderpest; and foot-and-mouth disease.

Kenya experienced a significant Rift Valley fever flare-up in December 2006. The FAO Crisis Management Centre - Animal Health provided assistance and experts to address the outbreak in the northeastern part of the country and support government control and prevention activities. Kenya also received support through two FAO projects on Rift Valley fever.

Kenya is a participant in a regional project to control peste des petits ruminants. A regionally coordinated action plan was prepared in 2008 to control the spread of the disease in eastern Africa and beyond.

Until recently the Kenyan and Somali areas of the Somali pastoral ecosystem constituted the last remaining reservoir of rinderpest in Africa. Kenya is not officially free of rinderpest, but is a beneficiary country of the new FAO regional programme on surveillance for accreditation for freedom from rinderpest in Africa.

Kenya is severely affected by foot-and-mouth disease. In January 2008, Kenya hosted a regional workshop to define the African 2020 Roadmap towards eradication of this disease in Africa.

Kenya is not a front line Desert Locust country and is not a member of the EMPRES Desert Locust Programme. However, it benefits from the Desert Locust component of EMPRES as a member of the Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa. Equipment, such as vehicles and communication material, and aviation fuel, is provided to facilitate rapid aerial survey or control operations whenever needed.

Kenya hosts the joint FAO-Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources Regional Animal Health Centre for Eastern Africa, established in 2006.

Emergency and rehabilitation
Ongoing FAO activities include: 

• assisting internally displaced persons to resettle and resume agricultural activities;
• maximizing food production through the provision of seeds, tools, fertilizers and veterinary supplies;
• rehabilitation of fields, pastures and key infrastructure;
• strengthening emergency preparedness and food security information systems;
• early detection, prevention and control of avian influenza; and
• drought preparedness and mitigation response in support of agro-pastoralist communities in the Horn of Africa.

National Medium Term Priority Framework
The National Medium Term Priority Framework for Kenya extends from 2009 to 2013. Formulated in consultation with the Government and other key stakeholders in the agricultural sector, it is based on the key policies and strategies of the Government. The FAO country programme has four major priorities:

• policy reform for agricultural transformation;
• sustainable natural resource and environmental management;
• support to highly vulnerable households, including women, youth, orphans and children; and
• agricultural information and knowledge management systems.

The FAO country programme has various projects that address the four priority areas and is mobilizing resources for these activities.

UN Development Assistance Framework
The FAO country programme for Kenya is aligned with the UN Development Assistance Framework for the years 2009 - 2013. Food security and nutrition are key areas for the alleviation of hunger and poverty. FAO is convening a working group of UN agencies to formulate a joint programme on food security and nutrition.

last updated: 8 July 2011