Impact of Structural Adjustment Programmes on National Food Security in Kenya

Per capita food production in sub-Saharan Africa including Kenya has been declining over the past three decades.Despite the available efforts made by the governments in sub-Saharan Africa, food insecurity remains one of the most crucial issues.In Kenya, agriculture accounts for about 26 per cent of overall GDP, 60 per cent of foreign exchange earnings and employs about 70 per cent of the rural population. Agriculture therefore remains the main source of food security for a majority of Kenya's population. Kenya has been going through nearly a decade of transition in agriculture whereby the role of the state in production and marketing has been reduced allowing the public sector institutions to concentrate on doing a narrow range of tasks better. However concerns has arisen as to wether this transformation from state-led model of service provision to that of the private sector would result in the vibrant growth in agricultural production that was experienced in the 1960s and early 1970s. This study sought to determine the impact of policy reforms on national food security with a major focus on agricultural production of rural farmers in Kenya. The study also aimed at suggesting posssible recommendations to improve agricultural production while taking into consideration the fiscal constraint faced by the the country. By using descriptive analysis to compare changes in production of maize, coffee and tea as well as in the food security situation before and after policy reforms, the study revealed that maize production had declined in the post-reform period. Although the total contribution of tea and coffee to total agricultural export had increased in the pos-reform period, production of coffee showed a downward trend unlike that of tea. The results further revealed that food production had deteriorated in the post-reform period while dependence on food imports and food aid had increased. In conclusion, the structural adjustment programmes coupled with organisational efficiency of the tea sector as well as favourable world market prices contributed to an improvement in the performance of tea unlike coffee and maize production, but the dependence on food imports needs to be reduced. This will require that the government in particular, contribute towards investment in research, extension and infrastructure