Building Resilience: The Gendered Effect of Climate Change on Food Security and Sovereignty in Kakamega-Kenya

Pauline Liru,Lindy Heinecken

doi:10.3390/su13073751

Abstract

Climate change is a global threat, affecting the food security and food sovereignty of many depending on agriculture for their livelihoods. This is even more pronounced in Kenya, given their over-reliance on rain-fed crops and the frequency of floods and droughts in the country. Through qualitative interviews, this study set out to establish how climate change not only affects the food security, production and consumption of rural women farmers in Kakamega County, Kenya, but their response to climate shocks. Using resilience theory as a lens, we established that women use different pathways to mitigate the effects of climate change on their livelihoods. The study found that initially women adopt coping strategies that are reactive and not sustainable, but soon adapted their farming strategies, using their indigenous knowledge to exercise some control over both their food security and food sovereignty. Besides this, they use their human and social capital to expand their networks of support. By linking up to other organizations and gaining access to government support, they are able to challenge patriarchal relations that perpetuate poverty and inequality and bring about more transformative and sustainable responses to climate change.

Highlights

Climate change is a global threat, affecting the food security and food sovereignty of many depending on agriculture for their livelihoods
The findings of this study show that the women farmers in Kakamega County have adopted various resilience strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change on food security and sovereignty, by drawing on the various assets at their disposal
We report on the lived experiences of women in Kakamega County in terms of (1) how climate changes affected food security and consumption; (2) how women cope with food security at household level; (3) how they adapt their agricultural and livelihood practices to exercise some form of control over their food security and sovereignty; and lastly (4) how they use their human and social capital to adopt more transformative approaches to food security and sovereignty

Summary

Introduction

Climate change is a global threat, affecting the food security and food sovereignty of many depending on agriculture for their livelihoods This is even more pronounced in Kenya, given their over-reliance on rain-fed crops and the frequency of floods and droughts in the country. The study found that initially women adopt coping strategies that are reactive and not sustainable, but soon adapted their farming strategies, using their indigenous knowledge to exercise some control over both their food security and food sovereignty They use their human and social capital to expand their networks of support. 80% of the Kenyan population live in rural areas and depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their survival [11] This makes the country highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and weather variability that give rise to droughts, floods and other natural disasters.

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