Search

The world faces a formidable challenge, to feed an increasingly hot and hungry planet. Despite some achievements in meeting global food demand, the prevalence of malnutrition remains high, particularly in low and middle-income countries such as Kenya and Zambia. Food system shocks such as climate change, political and civil unrest, and the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impact agricultural production and exacerbate the prevalence of malnutrition. Moreover, low biodiversity amongst food crops further threatens agroecological issues. The promotion of neglected and underutilized indigenous and traditional foods is one way that agriculture can diversify to better serve human nutritional and ecosystem service needs. A holistic enabling environment that utilizes a systems approach is needed for global nutrition security under worsening climate change conditions. Market-first, science-driven solutions need to incorporate a community resiliency framework that rebuilds local economies, regenerates ecosystems, and mitigates climate impact. This model engages farmers and consumers directly in the formulation of the research agenda and actively involves them in the process of technological innovation and dissemination through hands-on demonstrations and storytelling that captures shared experiences, strengthening local community resilience and improving nutrition outcomes. This dissertation uses the concept of nutrition security as a framework to promote the consumption and production of traditional and indigenous foods in Kenya through four pillars: availability, affordability, accessibility, and acceptability. The individual chapters and their objectives include a literature review on how global traditional and indigenous vegetables contribute to nutrition security through the aforementioned four pillars. Qualitative exploratory research was then conducted to understand the barriers and facilitators in preparation and consumption of African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) in Kenya. Results were used to identify a package of interventions to promote the consumption of AIVs. Structured surveys were subsequently used to evaluate the influence of these interventions on food security in Western Kenya during the dry season. A two-part telephone survey was conducted to examine the urban and rural differences in perceived influence of COVID-19 pandemic on diets and farming practices; food environment attributes (i.e., food availability, food price, etc.); and if access to different environments (e.g., wild, cultivated, built) impacted food security. The findings of these studies were used to inform the development of a nutrition-sensitive urban agricultural intervention. The last chapter contains a feasibility and preliminary impact assessment of the preliminary phase of a nutrition-sensitive urban agriculture intervention using sack gardens that engaged members of a women’s empowerment program in Kibera, an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. Combined, these studies further inform how modifying the availability, affordability accessibility, and acceptability of AIVs influence nutrition security by evaluating context-specific nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific agricultural interventions and the parameters within the personal and external food environments. These findings continue to support that agricultural and nutrition behavior change interventions as well as policy must work towards increasing micronutrient intake without increasing caloric intake within populations that are already consuming sufficient energy. In addition, from these findings, to promote healthy diets within at risk-populations in Western Kenya, interventions should include improved household production to improve affordability and availability of AIVs, improved cooking methods and recipes, and promotion of the beneficial health attributes while actively dispelling the perceived negative health consequences of their consumption. Furthermore, production interventions should take into consideration the context-specific needs of smallholder farmers.