Agriculture is the main livelihood for the majority of Kenyans, contributing 26 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In rural areas, more than 70 percent of informal employment comes from agriculture. However, in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), recurring droughts and erratic weather patterns have resulted in low productivity, food shortages and price increases, presenting significant roadblocks to nutrition.

Despite progress in recent years, one in every four children under five years old (26 percent of children) in Kenya is impacted by chronic malnutrition, while acute child malnutrition rates remain high in the ASALs. A 2019 nutrition survey in Turkana County, located along the Ugandan border in northwest Kenya, found wasting rates that reached 25.6 percent of children under five. Decades of food assistance have helped prevent famine in these areas, but without sufficiently strengthening local food systems.

Conflicts in neighbouring countries and related displacement have further exacerbated malnutrition and food insecurity. Kenya is host to 494,585 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from South Sudan and Somalia. Among those, 186,000 live in Turkana County, for the most part divided between Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei settlement, which is also home to refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.

Interventions focusing solely on increasing agricultural production have not necessarily translated to improved nutrition or diet. Against that backdrop, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has promoted nutrition-sensitive Farmer Field Schools (FFS) providing community-facilitated training sessions on crop production and livestock, with additional one-month nutrition modules on producing, processing, preserving and culinary preparation of foods with a high-nutrient content.

This promising practice factsheet exemplifies integration of both refugees and host communities in a nutrition-sensitive programming leveraging the Farmer Field School approach to address livelihoods and nutrition outcomes.

SOME KEY TAKEAWAYS

• On displacement: Kenya is host to 494,585 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from South Sudan and Somalia. Among those, 186,000 live in Turkana County, for the most part divided between Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei settlement, which is also home to refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. Conflicts and displacement have further exacerbated malnutrition and food insecurity, however, interventions focusing solely on increasing agricultural production have not necessarily translated to improved nutrition or diet. Kalobeyei’s integrated support for both refugee and host communities showed that promoting sustainable livelihood structures increases resilience and social cohesion.

• On the HDP nexus: Kalobeyei settlement was inaugurated in 2016 as an alternative to traditional refugee encampment, predicated on self-reliance and access to livelihoods, homegrown entrepreneurship, and household vegetable cultivation. Whereas Kakuma refugee camp provided free meals and services based on a model of temporary humanitarian aid, nearby Kalobeyei emphasized longer-term livelihood opportunities for both refugees and host communities. Unlike conventional encampments, Kalobeyei settlement provided access to sustainable livelihood opportunities and related infrastructure: two water pumps, each with a capacity of 30,000 cubic meters (three hectares of intensive agricultural production), greenhouses and an overhead tank. Kalobeyei’s integrated support for both refugee and host communities promoted sustainable livelihood structures, since host communities can use settlement infrastructure even in the event of refugee repatriation. FAO's support to Kalobeyei settlement promotes the operationalization of the humanitarian—development—peace nexus, as it facilitates durable solutions to internal displacement while promoting local integration and support for both refugees and host communities.

• On nutrition: Farmer Field Schools (FFS) build on farmers’ existing knowledge of agricultural production using hands-on, participatory and experiential farming activities led by community facilitators in a field-based setting. In Turkana County, FFS were made nutrition-sensitive using:
  • Nutrition outcome indicators looking at the quality of diets;
  • A focus on production of food with a high nutrition value, such as pulses, eggs and vegetables, and;
  • Nutrition training to help households understand how they could use increased food production and income to improve diets and prevent malnutrition.