Food insecurity as a global issue has caused millions of deaths. There is yet to be a single solution on how to adequately feed the growing world’s population, although many solutions have been suggested, none totally answers the question on how to ensure food security in a sustainable way. Solutions are being created in portions and segments, thus my thesis will tackle the issues related to food insecurity from a policy aspect. With the research questions discussed in this thesis, one segment of issues related to food insecurity will have advanced in one step towards a holistic global solution to food insecurity. As an issue falling under food studies, food security can be attained through the lenses of women empowerment. Food security is a major challenge to the Government of Kenya, with little over 10million Kenyans suffering from chronic food insecurity and poor nutrition (IFAD, 2016). This research paper is important because it will show the gaps that need to be filled and fixed by the Kenyan government to achieve food security to the required international standards. In doing so, rural women will be given the special and much required attention, funding, education and training to assist the Kenyan government to secure adequate food for all individuals living within its borders. For sustainable development to be achieved, there must be strides and efforts to have a global change in behaviour and habits, there must also be public awareness from the environmental institutions, NGOs and even the government in helping the public to live a more sustainable life.
In Kenya, the growing problem of food and nutrition insecurity is linked to the disappointing growth of agricultural production over the last two decades. Only 7% of Kenya’s land (582,000km2) has adequate and reliable rainfall, soil and topography suitable for crop production. Another 5% of the land can sustain crops in years when there was adequate rainfall. The remaining arid and semi-arid lands constitute over 80% of the country’s land mass (D. M. Nyariki, 2002, p. 156). Issues such as land grabbing have been seen throughout Kenya’s history, especially with the pastoral tribes, these issues are still seen even in modern times. Women and children are the most affected because this deprives them of the ability to provide for their households through agriculture.
Household food security is the ability of the household to secure enough food to provide for all the nutrient requirements of all members of the household. The food available should be both safe and of good quality, this includes the steps of cultivation, harvesting, transportation, storage of the food, processing the food, marketing the food, then finally
7 preparing and cooking the food (Latham, 1997). Households should therefore provide the nutrients required for their families, throughout the whole year. Each family requires the ability, knowledge and resources to be able to adequately provide for their household. A household is considered to be secure when they can adequately provide for the food needed by its family members (Smith, 1994, p. 20). Households experience food insecurity in the most basic sense when their resources are inadequate simply to obtain ‘enough food’ to meet the basic needs, lack of which eventually results in hunger (D. P. Keenan, 2001, p. 1).
Household food security can be threatened by increased prices, job loss, income reduction, rent increases, larger number of dependent persons, inadequate landholdings, landlessness, sharecropping and other causes of poverty (Latham, 1997). There are two reasons according to Pinstrup-Anderson (2008) as to why household food security may not assure food security for all its members:
1. Household food preferences are not considered over the acquisition of other goods and services such as school fees and housing.
2. The intrahousehold food allocation may not be according to the needs of each individual house member. This is evidenced by large household with both undernourished and obese household members.
Inadequate food, be it to food shortages or to inappropriate consumer behaviour or intrahousehold distribution is termed as household food insecurity (Latham, 1997). The problem faced by the poor is that they are powerless to affect a change in the distribution of income without which development is impossible (Redclift, 1984). Few human rights have been referred to as often as the right of food (Smith, 1994, p. 8). The right to an adequate standard of living including food is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Latham, 1997). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948, Article 25 states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” (Assembly, 1948). “We the Ministers and Plenipotentiaries representing 159 nations…declare our determination to eliminate hunger and to reduce all forms of malnutrition. Hunger and malnutrition are unacceptable in a world that was both the knowledge and the resources to end this human catastrophe.” These were the opening statements of the World Declaration on Nutrition
8 (ICN) held in December 1992 in Rome (Latham, 1997). The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1966, Article 11 of the Covenant enshrines the right of food as “The State parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually, and through international cooperation, the measures, including specific programmes, which are needed to improve:
To improve methods of production, conservation, and the distribution of food.
To ensure in equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need.” (Assembly, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966).
The World Food Conference in 1974 proclaims that “Every man, woman and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition to develop fully and maintain their physical and mental faculties.” (1974) Taking food security in consideration with human rights requires the following as stated by Keenan et al. (2001):
That the human rights community recognizes the validity of economic and social rights.
That international efforts to develop supervisory mechanisms in respect of these rights be intensified.
That States draw up frameworks for the monitoring of their own efforts.
That the international community aid households and States who are unable to realize this right through their own efforts.
The responsibilities of the state are to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights (Smith, 1994, p. 10). Smith (1994) continues to further elaborate that states are obligated to not do anything that will hinder individuals’ abilities to provide for their own needs, to protect individuals from their means of livelihood as well as to aid individuals who are unable to meet their own food needs. National food sovereignty was and is still used to as the standard unit of measuring the extent which has made available food needed/demanded regardless if the food was domestically grown or imported. If a country is unable to produce its own food, it should therefore be prepared to import. If they are unable to import the required amount demanded, they are therefore not considered as food sovereign (Pinstrup-Anderson, 2008, p.
287).
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