1. health and fitness
2. nutrition

REPUBLIC OF KENYA
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK AND FISHERIES
CONCEPT NOTE ON NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FOOD AND NUTRITION
SECURITY
Background
Food and nutrition security is a national priority of the government of Kenya.
This is in fulfillment of Article 43(1)(C) of the Constitution that states that every
Kenyan has the right to be free from hunger and to have adequate food of
acceptable quality. The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries is
mandated to ensure a food and nutrition secure Kenya and in pursuit of this,
the ministry has developed and enacted various policies, strategies, plans and
programs geared towards addressing food and nutrition security. These
initiatives are aligned to the Constitution of Kenya, Vision 2030, the Jubilee
Manifesto, Second Medium Term Plan, and MDG 1 amongst others.
Although several efforts have been made to improve agricultural productivity
and food security systems, Kenya continues to face high levels of food
insecurity and malnutrition. An estimated 44% of the country’s population live
below the poverty line with about 7.5 million people suffering from chronic food
insecurity. Furthermore, about 1.5 million people require food aid at any one
time; during periods of shock such as drought and floods, the number of
people requiring food aid rises to between 2.5 to 3.5 million. On malnutrition, it
is estimated that about 29 % of children under five years are stunted, 7 percent
are wasted, while 16 % are underweight. These figures are five times higher
than world malnutrition index for children under five.
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Justification for the conference

To achieve food security in Kenya there is need for concerted effort of all
stakeholders in the agricultural sector, including the national and county
governments, development partners, private sector, civil society,
researchers, and the community. This conference provides a forum for
the key actors to discuss, share experiences and chart a way forward
towards attaining food security in the country.

While several policies and other initiatives on food security and nutrition
have been proposed and implemented, attainment of a food and
nutrition secure Kenya has remained elusive. Furthermore, coordination
and full commitment to implementation of priority initiatives remains a
common gap. This conference is necessary to review and renew
commitments by actors as well as define the structures at the various
levels for implementing food and nutrition security priority programmes.

Kenya has developed a National Food and Nutrition Security Policy
through a consultative process that involved development partners,
private sector, NGOs and members of the academia. This policy provides
an overarching framework covering all key dimensions of food and
nutrition security with clear linkages between agriculture, food security
and nutrition sectors. The policy was formulated in 2012 before the
operationalization of devolved system of Government and formulation of
the Agriculture Policy. It therefore requires harmonization with the
devolved system of governance, alignment to the agriculture policy and
development of an implementation framework. The conference will
provide a good opportunity to focus on this important policy.

Food insecurity in Kenya has been aggravated by a number of factors
including poor land management practices, low agricultural productivity,
over-reliance on rain-fed agriculture, low mechanization, unexploited
irrigation potential, climate change and low access to extension services.
Other contributing factors include high and volatile commodity prices,
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high
post-harvest
losses,
inadequate
targeted
social
protection
programmes, insecurity, and weak agriculture information and early
warning systems. The conference will provide a conversation forum for
Kenyans to discuss food insecurity issues and come up with the way
forward on sustainable solutions.

The Constitution of Kenya 2010 clearly defines the roles and functions of
both county and national governments in agricultural development. It
further provides for mechanisms of cooperation and collaboration
between the 2 levels of governments. However, under the new
governance system there is need to establish an optimal mechanism and
relevant structures for coordination of food and nutrition security in the
country and engagement by the key actors focused on supporting efforts
to attain food and nutrition security. The conference will provide a
suitable forum for engagement between the two levels of government
and other stakeholders on how to tackle food insecurity challenge.
Broad Objectives

To
identify the bottle necks that have hindered achievement of
proposals to address
key issues affecting Kenya’s food and nutrition
security;

To come up with interventions, resolutions and guidelines on how to
address food and nutrition security challenges

To fast track the establishment of necessary coordination structures to
govern food and nutrition security issues at
the two levels of
governments

To adapt appropriate participation mechanisms and rules of engagement
for actors in food security initiatives
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
To re-evaluate the current policy environment, on extension service
provision, research and academia and its impact on food and nutrition
security.
Expected Outputs

A road map for the finalization of the Implementation Framework for the
National Food and Nutrition Security Policy (NFNSP) developed;

Concise, action oriented, Short, medium and long-term interventions
prepared;

A clear Governance and coordination mechanism for food and nutrition
security between the 2 levels of Government established ;

Policy on
extension, research and academia in food and nutrition
security redefined;

Conference proceedings to act as a blue print for reference in guiding
implementation of the food and nutrition security priorities adopted.
Expected outcome

There will be a renewed vigor and synergy by agricultural sector actors
to support the Government to achieve the expected 7% growth in the
sector.

A well-coordinated Implementation framework realized to enable the 2
levels of Government to support the agriculture sector to invest at least
10 % of their budgets to boost attainment of food and nutrition security
in accordance with Maputo Declaration of 2003.
Financial implication:
The estimated budget for the conference is KES 40.3 Million
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Conference Participants:
The conference is expected to bring together 500 participants who will be
drawn from Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Ministry of
Environment, Water, and Natural Resources, Ministry of Health, Ministry of
Lands, Housing and Urban Development , Ministry of Industrialization and
Enterprise Development, Ministry of Devolution and Planning, Ministry of East
African Affairs Commerce and Tourism and other relevant agencies, Research
and
Academic
institutions,
civil
society,
Counties,
private
sector
and
Development partners. In addition the list of invitees will include the Ministers
responsible for Agriculture from Malawi and Uganda and the former president of
Brazil who are expected to share their experiences in efforts to attain food
security.
Proposed Theme: Feeding
responsibility?
Kenya
2015
and
beyond
–
Whose
Sub-theme 1: National Food and nutrition Security in the wake of
devolution
Sub-theme 2: Food and nutrition security in relation to youth and
women in agriculture
Sub-theme 3:
Infrastructure and technology in supporting
sustainable food production, distribution, post harvest management
and marketing systems;
Sub-theme 4: Future of Research, academia and extension in food
and nutrition security
Sub theme 5: Private Sector opportunities in food and nutrition
security
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Subtheme 6: water and health in the quest for a food secure Kenya.
Sub theme 7: New challenges; Environmental issues, climate smart
technologies, exploitation of Natural Resources; urbanization
Subtheme 8: the pricing regimes for inputs, produce and products
Subtheme 9: Social protection, safety nets, targeted subsidies,
vulnerability reduction and insurance services
Proposed Venue: Nairobi Safari Park Hotel
Proposed Date: 18th to 21st August, 2015
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