Sustainable food systems through diversification and indigenous vegetables: An analysis of the Southern Nakuru County
This report (PDF) by ECDPM presents the results of multi-disciplinary research and dialogue activities in Kenya, using a ‘food systems approach’ in terms of sustainability and outcomes, a related governance analysis about the bottlenecks and drivers that make diversification of the food system difficult, with a focus on indigenous vegetables. The current Nakury County food systems is poor in terms of economic, social and environmental sustainability: there are significant medium-term economi risks, a significant part of the population is excluded, environmental status is worsening with climate change and poor in terms of quantity and quality of food. A governance analysis with related bottlenecks that make diversification of food systems difficult shows that the policy landscape is characterised by a multitute of well conceived policies but implementatios tools are lacking, wich national subsidies and other policy execution largely dedicated to maize anf few other export crops. Local institutions are very weak. There are several pathways to solutions to address such governance bottlenecks. For seed systems: subsidies for seed distribution, technocal assistance for smallholders and open source seed systems. For production systems: better extensions services, investment in storage and business brokerage. To improve processing system for indigenous vegetables, for distribution and consumption should be market research, build upon maize distribution networks and communication campaigns, public procurement and establishing a multi-dimensional sustainability label. Finally, an example of crosscutting solutions is a multi-stakeholder platform to regularly bring together all relevant actors. Effective implementation of these pathways requires working with local drivers of change and targeting the right ongoing policy processes.