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Selling produce at a local market
Map of Kenya

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).

Country Context

  • 40%
    Estimated reduction in the prevalence of stunting in children under 5 years old in areas where Feed the Future has worked between 2008 and 2015

Value Chains

  • Horticulture
  • Dairy
  • Livestock
  • Drought-Tolerant Crops
See more regional stats
  • 47.5 million

    Population of Kenya (Kenya Population Census report, 2019)

  • 5.4%

    Annual GDP growth; agriculture accounts for 34.2 percent of added value (World Bank, 2019)

  • 69%

    Percentage of population living in rural Kenya (Kenya Population Census report, 2019)

  • 58.5%

    Percentage of people living in poverty in the Feed the Future northern target areas (Feed the Future Population-Based Survey, 2015)

Our Strategy

Strategy

Improve agricultural market systems and livelihoods

Strategy

Expand and diversify agricultural production and productivity

Strategy

Increase access to financing and investment capital

Strategy

Improve the capacity of the government and private sector to facilitate agriculture-led growth

Strategy

Increase resilience to climatic and economic shocks and stressors

Strategy

Improve the nutrition of women and children

Our Progress

  • 173,000

    Producers using new technologies and practices with Feed the Future’s help in FY20

  • 1M

    Children under 5 reached with nutrition help in FY20

  • $56M

    Annual agricultural sales generated by Kenyan farms and firms reached by Feed the Future in FY20

  • $91M

    New private investment leveraged by Feed the Future in FY20

Our Work

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.

Combating Drought

In 2020, Feed the Future developed a drought-tolerant seed system in three counties in the southeastern region of Kenya. As a result, local communities and markets have strengthened their resilience to droughts and unpredictable weather, bringing in greater yields and food security. As a result, communities throughout the three counties were able to:

  • Produce 15,000 kilograms of assorted drought-tolerant seeds which were made available in the community managed seed banks to improve smallholder farmers’ access to quality planting materials.
  • Increase the availability of certified potato seed to producers, including seed from cuttings.

Private Sector Partnerships

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. In 2020, this communication platform ensured:

  • Over 3,300 dairy animals were reached with breed improvement and quality feeding interventions.
  • Nearly 1,300 livestock animals received animal health services.
  • More than 200 personnel from 10 counties were trained on the management of the ICT platform.

Dairy and Livestock

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 produce fodder on over 22,000 hectares and earn over $6 million in annual sales, and worked with over 1,000 youth to find them jobs in commercial fodder production.

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.

Source

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.

Our Activities

Feed the Future supports the following programs, partnerships and organizations in Kenya.

View all activities
  • Accelerated Value Chain Development
  • Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Climate-Resilient Sorghum
  • Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Processing and Post-Harvest Handling
  • Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture
  • Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management
  • Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems
  • Increasing Smallholder Farmer Productivity and Profitability
  • Integrated Agricultural Research for Development
  • Kenya Agriculture Regulatory Capacity Building
  • Kenya Crops and Dairy Market Systems Development
  • Kenya Investment Mechanism
  • Kenya Resilient Arid Lands Partnership for Integrated Development
  • Livestock Market Systems, Expanding and Diversifying Viable Economic Opportunities in Kenya
  • Livestock Market Systems, Strengthening Community Capacities for Resilience and Growth
  • Livestock Market Systems, Resilience Learning Activity
  • Livestock Market Systems, USAID Kuza
  • National Drought Management Authority
  • Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa
  • Policy Leadership, Interactions, Networks, and Knowledge
  • Supporting Seed Systems for Development
  • USDA Resilience Measurement of Market Systems in Kenya
  • USDA Learning, Analytics and Knowledge Management Support in Kenya and East Africa Region

Related Resources

September 26, 2018

Feed the Future Country Plan for Kenya

View PDF

April 10, 2017

Kenya Feed the Future Baseline Report

View PDF

April 10, 2017

Feed the Future Kenya Zone of Influence Interim Assessment Report

View PDF

November 30, 2011

Kenya Feed the Future FY2010 Implementation Plan

View PDF

Featured Story From Kenya

Young Entrepreneur Rethinks Future, Pursues Rural Agribusiness

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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