Venue: Nyeri, Makueni, Kakamega, Kisii, Kisumu and Uasin Gishu

Dates: July 2011 to February 2012

Introduction

Tegemeo Institute is a policy research Institute under the Division of Research and Extension of Egerton University. The Institute contributes to policy formulation in Kenya by striving to conduct proactive policy research and advocacy that enhance food security, creates wealth and sustains the environment. Through outreach, the Institute informs public and private sector stakeholders about possible policy and investment options that can promote household incomes, food security, and agricultural and rural development in Kenya. The Institute believes that given relevant empirical information, much progress can be made in effective public sector management through collaborative policy outreach, which entails meaningful discussions and interaction among researchers, policy makers, and other stakeholders.

Primary data is a valuable asset for generating evidence-based economic and policy options. Tegemeo Institute has over the last 13 years, been tracking progress made at the farm household level by collating data from rural farm households. The Institute conducts household surveys every two years. The data collected includes: input-output data; marketing data, on- and off-farm employment, income; technology (seed and fertilizer) use and accessibility to basic infrastructure (roads, water, markets), among others. Although this data has over the years been used to generate evidence to inform policy formulation at the national, regional and international levels, the Institute is yet to provide feedback to the community from which data were collected. As the country transitions to a decentralized system, Tegemeo Institute finds it useful to provide evidence from its dataset to: 1) Inform the central and county governments regarding the status of the agricultural sector and farm households, the possible pathways to development and the critical bottlenecks to such development; and 2) Provide a good/reliable baseline which county governments can use to track progress in their regions.

It is against this backdrop that Tegemeo Institute has been organizing workshops to disseminate its findings on "Status, Trends and Opportunities in Smallholder Agricultural Productivity, Market Participation and Household Incomes". During the workshops the Institute presents the current status of key household and agricultural indicators as well as changes that have occurred over the last 10 years, with a view to identifying positive trends/opportunities and possible solutions/interventions to unlock potential or mitigate negative trends. 

The audience for the outreach workshops are the farming community as well as other stakeholders including the regional government, political leaders, agricultural sector ministries, research institutions and development agents (NGO's, donors) who have on-going or planned activities in the areas covered by the Tegemeo panel.

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Dissemination Workshops on Organizational Structures and Community Voice/Presence in Governance of Food Security Related Initiatives

Date: March 2011

Introduction

 Improving agricultural productivity is crucial in enhancing food security and accelerating pro-poor growth. Various functions in implementation of programmes/projects that are geared towards mitigating food insecurity and poverty reduction have been decentralized to the local level (district and below) as a way of increasing responsiveness, effectiveness and efficiency. This has been achieved by establishment of organs through which various functions are effected and by involvement of various stakeholders, including the farmers. To ensure that initiatives are/remain relevant to the needs of local communities particularly the poor and vulnerable, it is important to continually review the governance mechanisms that are in place at these local levels. A key objective of the agri-food systems project is to promote policies and governance mechanisms for sustainable agri-food systems. It seeks to contribute to the understanding of why current policies, institutions and governance mechanisms have not enhanced ability of the rural poor, women and the vulnerable to secure sustainable livelihoods, food and income security and a revitalized natural resource base.

 It is against this backdrop that Tegemeo Institute of Egerton University undertook studies in Mbeere, Kirinyaga and Nyandarua to establish the local level structures responsible for various food security-related initiatives, their composition and the existing linkages both upstream and downstream as well as horizontal linkages. In addition, the Institute captured the perception of local stakeholders on dimensions of governance that are relevant to making agri-food systems work for the poor and vulnerable namely, the satisfaction, participation and their influence. This study is within the broader project on “Making Agri-food Systems Work for the Rural Poor” being carried out in collaboration with other local and regional partners.

Preliminary results show that the structure is still limiting farmers’ involvement in decision making, in resource allocation and in ensuring programmes and projects remain accountable. In addition, current funding levels seem to be curtailing the convening of various organs/committees and wider farmer representation. Farmers on the other hand seem to have minimal understanding of the projects in which they are participating in although there was an above average perception on satisfaction with benefit derived from the projects. There was also little knowledge on existing civil society groups, their agenda/mandate and influence on the committees.

Tegemeo Institute organized for workshops to disseminate it findings and get feedback from the community. The workshops drew participants from farmer groups, civil societies and NGOs .

Nyandarua North Workshop

Venue : St. Martin’s Catholic Church Hall , Nyahururu
Date : 9th March, 2011

1. Making Agrifood System Work for the Poor-Proceedings of a dissemination workshop in Nyandarua North - PDF
2. FOOD SECURITY INITIATIVES IN NYANDARUA NORTH DISTRICT - PDF
3. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES AND COMMUNITYS’ VOICE IN GOVERNANCE OF FOOD SECURITY NYANDARUA NORTH - PDF
4. Way forward matrix for Nyandarua North - PDF

Mbeere South Workshop

Venue : Christian Community Service (CCS) Mayori, kiritiri
Date : 10th March, 2011

1. Making Agrifood System Work for the Poor-Proceedings of a Dissemination Workshop in Mbeere South - PDF
2. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES AND COMMUNITYS’ VOICE IN GOVERNANCE OF FOOD SECURITY - Mbeere - PDF
3. Way Forward Matrix for Mbeere South - PDF

Kirinyaga West Workshop

Venue : County Hotel, Sagana
Date : 11th March, 2011

1. Making Agrifood system work for the poor-Proceedings of dissemination workshop in Kirinyaga West - PDF
2. Food Security Initiatives in Kirinyaga West District - PDF
3. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES AND COMMUNITYS’ VOICE IN GOVERNANCE OF FOOD SECURITY - Kirinyaga - PDF
4. Way Forward Matrix for Kirinyaga West - PDF

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Tegemeo Institute in conjunction with Latin America based Research Institute GRADE has been conducting a study on Land Tenure in Pastoralist Societies. The focus of the collaborative research has been on land governance with an aim of coming up with policy recommendations that can enhance smallholder livelihoods in both the Andean countries and in the East African region. The study conducted in both regions is on Land Tenure in Pastoralist Societies. In Latin America, the study focuses on Peru while in the East African region, Kenya is the case study.

The two regions face challenges arising from land governance and while the context is different for the two countries, there are similarities in the lessons that can be drawn for improving land rights that will enhance smallholder livelihoods, particularly that of pastoralists.

Under the project, each research institution has undertaken a country research paper and jointly, both research centers have conducted a comparative study. The comparative research is based upon the cases of Peru in Latin America and Kenya in East Africa, with some evidence from the other selected countries in both regions.

Based on the Kenyan study, currently, about 67% of land in Kenya is categorised as community land. This land is mostly characterised by arid and semi-arid climatic conditions such as high temperatures and low rainfall. As such, it is largely occupied by pastoral communities who practice livestock keeping under extensive production systems, which is best, suited for these environs. Since the country promulgated the new constitution in 2010, land laws have changed in line with the constitutional requirements. The community land bill has been under discussion since 2012 and although currently in parliament, the debate over certain clauses in the bill is yet to be resolved. The Tegemeo study examines the evolution of collective land regimes in East Africa and how it affects the communities that live on community land. More specifically, the study looks at drivers and reasons behind the changes in collective land access and how the communities that rely on these tenure systems have been or are likely to be affected.

The study findings have implications on the current policy debate on protecting communal land. They show that pastoral communities have continued to use customary laws in management of land under collective access with mixed results. Expanding urbanisation, large public investments and potential to change use of land have negatively affected collective land tenure regimes, and hence the sustainability of pastoral systems. Enactment of policies that recognize customary laws, strengthen community mechanisms to enforce land rights and ensure fairness in use of land and resources derived from land will help communities in the maintenance of collective land access regimes, thereby improving the sustainability of pastoralists’ production systems.

It is evident that inequality in land use played a primary role in changing community’s perceptions about collective access to land. The inequality was brought to fore by changing social dynamics within the communities such as education. Pastoral communities inhabit lands where the ecological environment best suits extensive livestock production systems. To sustain these systems and pastoralist communities’ livelihoods, the study recommends that the following need to be considered:

1. Inclusion of customary laws in the legal framework to help enforce customary rights used in the management of community land
2. Need for strengthening of community mechanisms to manage land under collective tenure regimes such as providing semi-formal training and enforcing accountability procedures such as record keeping and holding of annual general meetings.
3. Need for increased investments in and delivery of public goods in pastoral areas such as infrastructure, schools, hospital, livestock markets and veterinary services.

See the Presentation here …

See the Workshop Video Proceedings here ...

See more output on the ELLA Program here ...

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