Assessment of the Factors Influencing Food Insecurity among Smallholder Farmers in Kanoni Sub County Kazo District

Abstract

This study on factors contributing to food insecurity to small holder farmers was carried out in Kanoni Sub County found in Kazo district. The purpose was to analyze the food situation identifying limiting factors for optimal food production and to identify various coping strategies employed by smallholder farmers in a situation of food insecurity in the study area. Data for this study was obtained by cross-sectional design whereby random sampling was used to select respondents from the study area. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used to collect data for this study. Primary data was collected from farmers, extension agents and local leaders by using a questionnaire. A sample of 120 respondents was randomly selected. Quantitative data was analyzed using Statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS), while qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used. The study results indicated that most of the respondents 90.8% were males while 9.2% were females. Results from this study also found that 51.7% of the respondents never went to school (no education), 33.3% attained primary education, 12.5% attained secondary education and 2.5% had attended higher institutions of learning. Most families had labourforce being supplied by couples with little support from children during holidays. The study also found out that the many people were married at 89.2% and it’s believed that married couples are likely to be more productive than single parents due to labour supply in farming activities and access to productive resources in agriculture. The study indicated that about 81.7% of the total populations in the area of study were food insecure.