KENYA’S Food Security Population of 47 million with low population dispersion. 59% of population under 24 years old – population has doubled over the past 25 years 19 Million lack access to safe water 27 Million lack access to safe sanitisation over 10 Million have no access to food in the right amounts and quality. Maize is the staple food preference - is in short supply  Regular droughts are increasing agricultural debt and depleting food stores High cost of domestic food production due to high costs of inputs Political instability and violence in 2008 forced knowledgeable farmers from rural areas of high agricultural production, In the 1990’s Kenya’s government withdrew support for family planning programs to focus on the HIV epidemic which is still affecting the country today, this has resulted in Kenya’s population doubling over the past 25 years, a rate at which far exceeds the governments ability to maintain a quality of life for its people. This has lead to 19 Million of its people lacking access to safe water, 27 Million lacking access to safe sanitisation and since 2008 the country has been facing severe food insecurity problems with over 10 Million people with no access to food in the right amount or quality. The recent droughts have depleted food stores and Maize which is the staple food of the country is in short supply. Without change these problems will only become more severe over the next century.

Population increasing in areas of high agricultural activity Global Climate Models predict rainfall increases in northern Kenya of 40% by the end of the century. Average temperatures in Kenya are likely to increase in the range of 1-3C by the 2050s  Population increasing in areas of high agricultural activity These two maps show the similarities between the level of rainfall and the level of population, with the majority of Kenya’s population residing in its highest rainfall areas. This is important as Global Climate Models predict rainfall increases in the already high fall areas of 40% by the end of the century. This will lead to excessive flooding, displacement of people and potential climate refugees. It is also important as the majority of agricultural activity is understandably in the high rainfall areas. The impending issue is that agricultural land will inevitably be taken up to accommodate the increasing population, shrinking Kenya’s food belt. Currently Kenya has very little infrastructure to hold and transport water from high rainfall areas to low, this inability to control water is what I believe is restricting Kenya’s ability to expand its agricultural production and increase its food security.

What Kenya needs. Investment in a national Irrigation system, transport of water Better infrastructure to get produce and relief to where they are needed Investment in drought tolerant crops funds to purchase food from drought stricken areas Reduction in costs of social amenities such as education, transport and health to free up money for food livestock disease free zones Restriction on food exports and compensation Subsidies on importing agricultural resources, fertilizers tax exemptions for farmers Following on from the previous slide these two maps represent the similarities between Kenya’s agricultural production areas and the level of those area’s food security. The area’s of high agricultural production are also areas of high food security and vice-versa. This can indicate that either the farmers are only producing enough food to supply the surrounding areas or that there is difficulty in transporting food to the areas of low food security which means that transportation infrastructure must be improved. Reiterating the importance on Kenya’s ability to control the transportation of water I believe that if they were able to take the water from the high rain fall high agricultural production areas to the low rainfall low production and low food security areas they could be transformed into high or at least medium production areas, increasing the food security. Kenya should seek investment from foreign countries if needed as I see this as being the biggest limiting factor to the countries progression towards one of high food security. In the short term they should look at reducing the cost to producers on importing agricultural resources such as fertilizers and investing in RnD for drought tolerant cropping, offering tax exemptions to producers and purchasing produce from drought stricken areas to ease the burden on struggling farmers, restricting food exports until food stores are recovered, creating disease free zones for livestock so that Kenya can eventually enter the global market for protein exports and lastly in 2008 following the post election riots Kenya lost a multitude of knowledgeable farmers who fled the violence, this has significantly attributed to their food security crisis and so they must look to foreign countries to try and entice producers back into Kenya.