Agriculture is the primary livelihood for the majority of Kenyans , and it accounts for 26 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). In rural areas, more than 70 percent of informal employment comes from agriculture. In arid and semi-arid areas , recurrent droughts and erratic climatic conditions have led to low productivity, food shortages and price increases, which seriously undermine nutritional outcomes.

Despite progress in recent years, one in four children under five (26 percent of children) in Kenya suffer from chronic malnutrition, while rates of acute malnutrition among children remain high in arid and semi-arid areas. -arid. According to a 2019 nutrition survey in Turkana County, located along the Ugandan border in northwestern Kenya, the wasting rate among children under five is 25.6 percent. Decades of food aid have helped prevent famine in these regions, but without sufficiently strengthening local food systems.

Population displacement and conflict have further exacerbated malnutrition and food insecurity. Kenya hosts 494,585 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from South Sudan and Somalia. Of these, 186,000 live in Turkana County , mostly split between Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei camp , which also hosts refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Interventions aimed solely at increasing agricultural production have not necessarily translated into improved nutrition or diet. In this context, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has encouraged the creation of nutrition-sensitive producer field schools, which offer training sessions led by community members, focusing on on crop and livestock production, with additional one-month nutritional modules on the production, processing, preservation and culinary preparation of nutrient-rich foods.

Producer field schools draw on farmers' knowledge of agricultural production to demonstrate, through practice and in the open field, agricultural activities based on experience with the participation of interested parties and under the direction of community facilitators .  In Turkana County, the nutrition dimension was integrated into these producer field schools using the following approach:

• use of outcome indicators measuring the quality of diets;
• priority to the production of foods of high nutritional value, such as legumes, eggs and vegetables;
• integration of nutrition training to help households understand how to take advantage of increased food production and income to improve diets and prevent malnutrition.