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On developing a scale to measure chronic household seed insecurity in semi-arid Kenya and the implications for food security policy

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Abstract

Seed security is complementary and relational to food security; having access to seed that produces meaningful and resilient yields of culturally appropriate food is an integral aspect of food security for smallholder farmers. However, essential components of smallholder seed security continue to be underemphasized in food and seed policy. In this study, we analyze household and farm-level characteristics that may predict chronic seed insecurity in semi-arid eastern Kenya. In the process, we also present and test the Household Seed Insecurity Assessment Scale (HSIAS) designed to measure household chronic seed insecurity. Results suggest that mild chronic seed insecurity continues to be a problem in most households, hampering their ability to produce food. We found that older and more experienced farmers were more seed insecure and that farmer adoption of new varieties was associated with seed insecurity. Obtaining seed through local markets and informal giving was done evenly by all farmers while using agroshops was associated with greater seed insecurity in some instances. Key attributes of household seed (in)security identified in this study are used to inform seed and food policies that better support smallholder farmers in Kenya. With further development, the HSIAS has the potential to enhance local monitoring systems and government food and seed policy responses.

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Notes

  1. Smallholder farmers are rural, family farmers that make up the majority of agricultural producers in Kenya and other developing countries. They farm for home consumption and smaller markets using labor intensive, traditional practices and have poor access to agricultural inputs, technologies, credit, and markets. Smallholders suffer from high rates of poverty and food insecurity and are most vulnerable to environmental and economic shocks (Fan et al. 2013).

  2. According to the FAO (2015) “a household is seed secure when it is able to plant the desired area with good quality seed of preferred and adapted varieties using locally practiced seeding rates and without resorting to negative coping strategies” (pg. 3).

  3. Improved varieties of certified seed of food crops appropriate for smallholder farmers of arid and semi-arid regions (e.g. pearl millet, cowpea and sorghum) have been developed and distributed by the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization seed unit in efforts to increase food security in these regions and compensate for the lack private sector investment in these crops.

  4. Anyone found guilty of trading or buying uncertified seeds of the 37 scheduled crops (21 of which are food crops) in the Crops Act 2013 is subject to a fine not exceeding ten million Kenyan Shillings (97,000 USD) or imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both (Government of Kenya 2013a).

  5. In the survey, resources were defined as money, cattle or food used for accessing seed or physical inputs needed for a given seed to produce a meaningful yield.

  6. In the survey, knowledge was defined as knowledge associated with where to get the seed, how to sow the seed, how to grow, maintain, and manage the resulting crop, and physical inputs needed for the seed to produce a meaningful yield.

  7. One is considered a perfect fit for mean-square values, but an appropriate range of misfit is 0.7 to 1.3 (Na et al. 2016) with anything above 2 grounds for removal based on a high-risk of measurement degradation (Linacre 2016b).

  8. A measurement is considered unidimensional if the Rasch dimension has a variance equal to or greater than 50% (Oon and Subramaniam 2011). However, if there is a significant amount of variance (5% or greater) found in the second dimension or first contrast and the eigenvalue for the first contrast is greater than 2 this can still indicate the presence of a second dimension (Linacre 2016b). When eigenvalues are less than two, this usually signifies items that exhibit misfit to the model but lack the structure to be considered a second dimension.

  9. Linacre (2016b) suggests that a difference in DIF of greater than 0.5 logits warrants the evaluation of the t-value for a given question. If the t-value is greater than 2.0, the DIF is then considered significant and not caused by chance (Linacre 2016b).

  10. The category “least seed insecure” includes households that did identify (at a lesser frequency than the others) with some of the least severe experiences of seed insecurity. Only 11 households responded “never” to all questions − meaning they were truly seed secure. Further analysis on a group of only 11 households would not have been meaningful. Thus, these households were included in the “least seed insecure” category.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful for the time and expertise contributed from anonymous participants in this study as well as dedicated enumerators and translators. We also would like to thank all the reviewers who provided insightful comments and suggestions through the evolution of this study and manuscript. This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada, and with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and various direct and indirect contributions by the Government of the Republic of Kenya through the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). This research was completed as part of a project titled: Enhancing Ecologically Resilient Food Security in the Semi-Arid Midlands of Kenya, led by McGill University and KALRO (Principal Investigators: Gordon M. Hickey and Lutta W. Muhammad).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Science Department, McGill University, Raymond Building, 21111 Lakeshore Road, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9, Canada

    Megan Mucioki & Timothy Johns

  2. Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, Macdonald Campus, 21,111 Lakeshore, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9, Canada

    Bernard Pelletier & Gordon M. Hickey

  3. School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, Macdonald-Stewart Building, McGill University, Macdonald Campus, 21111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9, Canada

    Timothy Johns

  4. Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Nairobi, Kenya

    Lutta W. Muhammad

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  1. Megan Mucioki
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Correspondence to Megan Mucioki.

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Mucioki, M., Pelletier, B., Johns, T. et al. On developing a scale to measure chronic household seed insecurity in semi-arid Kenya and the implications for food security policy. Food Sec. 10, 571–587 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-018-0807-2

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