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Integrating nutrition communication in agricultural intervention programs aimed at increased food availability and accessibility in resource-poor areas is crucial. To enhance the sustainability and scalability of nutrition communication, the present study piloted the approach of 'nutrition integrated agricultural extension' and tested nutrition-related outcomes with two types of nutrition messages (specific vs. sensitive) and two delivery channels (public sector vs. private sector). The study intervention comprised (i) vegetable seed kit distribution, (ii) ongoing agricultural extension activities by public or private sectors and (iii) nutrition communication with two different messages. The intervention was tested with three treatment arms and reached 454 farmers (>65% female) in rural Kakamega County, Western Kenya. Pre-/post-surveys measured outcome variables focused on farmers' nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and practices in vegetable production and consumption, and household dietary diversity score. Results showed that all treatments increased nutrition knowledge (p  < 0.05). Nutrition-specific communication was more effective than nutrition-sensitive communication. Nutrition communication through either the public or the private agricultural sector was both effective. Before the study intervention, many participants believed that vegetable consumption was beneficial and wanted to increase intake. After the intervention, the number of participants who felt eating more vegetables was challenging decreased slightly. Nutrition communication was found to be especially important in conveying recommended food amounts and promoting increased vegetable consumption. Seasonality affected on-farm crop diversity and vegetable consumption results in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African smallholder farmers produce food both for home consumption and commercial purposes, but these farmers are often net food buyers in local markets. To what extent do markets play a role in making food available and accessible throughout the year? This study assessed: (a) the extent of smallholder farmers' involvement in market trading networks, and (b) the role of markets in access to food at household level. All plant and animal species grown or reared for food were inventoried on 30 smallholder farms in six villages of Mumias District and Vihiga District, Western Kenya. A survey of available food products was conducted in three markets in Mumias and four markets in Vihiga near the surveyed farms. The market was the main source for cereals in both districts, while in Mumias District, fruits and animal source foods were also mainly sourced from markets. Regarding market trading systems, 15% of the 48 food products were sold by the farmers, 10% were sold by small-scale traders, while 75% were sold by large-scale traders. The study shows that local markets are mainly utilized by market traders who bring produce from outside the study areas. To increase incomes to enable access to diversified foods, organized smallholder farmers can be integrated better in the local market system, in two key ways: (a) by tapping into increasing market demand for 'niche' products uniquely available through onfarm production, and (b) by value addition of farm produce lost at post-harvest to increase year-round availability of diversified foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the associations between dietary patterns and farm diversity as well as socioeconomic variables during two seasons in rural Western Kenya. As a mean of two surveys, the average dietary diversity scores (DDS) of households and women were low, implying low household economic access to food and low women’s dietary quality. The Food Consumption Score (FCS) showed that acceptable levels of food consumption were realized over seven consecutive days in the 2014 survey by the majority of households (83%) and women (90%). While there was no strong association between the food scores and seven farm diversity indicators, both food scores were significantly associated with the household’s wealth status, ethnicity of both the household head and the spouse, and the education level of the spouse. For holistic household food and nutrition security approaches, we suggest a shift from a focus on farm production factors to incorporating easily overlooked socioeconomic factors such as household decision-making power and ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]