This archive report was first published on 18 June 2020.
Published on June 18, 2020, a report by The Route to Food highlighted a concerning trend in food insecurity in Kenya. The number of people who need food assistance has nearly tripled over seven years, from 900,000 in 2013 to 2.6 million in 2020.
According to the report, the situation is expected to worsen this year due to disruptions in farming caused by adverse weather, disease, and pests' invasion. Stephen Njaramba, the initiative's public policy specialist, attributed the worsening situation to the government's underinvestment in the agricultural sector.
Njaramba pointed out that the budget allocation for the agricultural sector has been declining since the 2013/2014 financial year, with food security not receiving the attention it needs. The provision in agriculture has dropped from 3.4 per cent in 2013 to 1.6 per cent in 2020, he said.
Layla Liebetrau, the project lead of The Route to Food, emphasized that the analysis aimed to evaluate whether concerned entities are doing enough to ensure the right to quality food for citizens as outlined in the Constitution. She noted that despite an increase in the contribution of the agriculture sector to the growth of gross domestic product, there has been a decline in the financial commitment to the sector by the government.
