Feed the Future works in 17 counties in Kenya that encompass nine Western Region counties (high-rainfall zone); three Eastern Region counties (semi-arid zone); and five Northern Kenya counties (arid and semi-arid zone).
Population of Kenya (Kenya Population Census report, 2019)
Annual GDP growth; agriculture accounts for 34.2 percent of added value (World Bank, 2019)
Percentage of population living in rural Kenya (Kenya Population Census report, 2019)
Percentage of people living in poverty in the Feed the Future northern target areas (Feed the Future Population-Based Survey, 2015)
Producers using new technologies and practices with Feed the Future’s help in FY21
Children under 5 reached with nutrition help in FY21
Annual agricultural sales generated by Kenyan farms and firms reached by Feed the Future in FY21
New private investment leveraged by Feed the Future in FY21
Agriculture is the backbone of Kenya’s economy and central to the government of Kenya’s development strategy, as well as its Ending Drought Emergencies initiative in the country’s chronically vulnerable arid and semi-arid lands. While stagnating agricultural productivity and continuous population growth pose critical challenges to food security in Kenya, there is also great opportunity for improvement. Kenya has some of the largest dairy herds in eastern and southern Africa and is one of the largest African exporters of fresh produce to Europe. Feed the Future will continue to strengthen resilience and expand economic opportunities through disaster risk reduction, diversification into higher-value commodities, promoting non-farm enterprises and strengthening livestock, dairy and other vital sectors. In addition, Feed the Future continues to employ a market-led approach to improve family nutrition, with an emphasis on women and children.
Feed the Future also collaborated with public and private sector partners to strengthen the ability of Kenya’s county governments to plan and support dairy sector growth. Feed the Future’s efforts helped to develop the last-mile delivery of artificial insemination services in targeted dairy regions.
One notable achievement was the development of an information and communications technology (ICT) platform for improved efficiency of artificial insemination services bundled with cattle vaccine service delivery to combat the East Coast Fever. The platform also helped dairy farmers and producers access an e-voucher incentive system and SMS-extension service from the private sector.
Feed the Future’s efforts contributed to the rapid expansion of the production and marketing of cattle fodder, which provided a key input for growing the livestock sector and for enabling counties that did not historically produce dairy to enter the market. In collaboration with Feed the Future partners, smallholder farmers are adopting a variety of improved forages, such as the Brachiaria grass variety, a more nutritious and drought-resistant grass, and increasing commercial fodder production.
In 2020, Feed the Future helped farmers earn over $5 million in annual sales.
Livestock marketing associations play a key role in running the livestock markets in the counties where Feed the Future works. In 2020, Feed the Future helped to strengthen the county-level ability of these associations to run livestock markets efficiently and equitably, generate revenues, be sustainable and serve low-income households. Livestock marketing associations also directly engaged the county governments, resulting in new policies that stipulated revenue-sharing between the associations and the county government, ensuring a favorable environment for private sector businesses.
These results reflect data from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. African Development Foundation, reported into Feed the Future’s central monitoring system for fiscal year 2020 (FY20). Impact data for stunting statistics are derived from the 2015 Feed the Future Interim Population-Based Survey for the High Rainfall and Semi-Arid Areas. For more information on the indicators above, please view our Feed the Future Indicator Handbook. All dollar amounts are listed in U.S. dollars.
Feed the Future supports the following programs, partnerships and organizations in Kenya.
September 26, 2018
April 10, 2017
April 10, 2017
November 30, 2011
“Through the mentorship from Kuza, I have gained so much, especially on helping my group not to overlook any agribusiness opportunity, to be attentive to customers’ needs, and to offer farmers a reliable and convenient source of farm inputs.”
Lenah Mwangi, Entrepreneur, Nakuru County, Kenya
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