Okwero W. Florence^1,, Westendorp Annemarie², Nederlof Suzanne²

This case study assesses the contribution of a Dairy Cow Commercialisation Project (DCCP) at Gisambai Dairy Commercial Village in Hamisi Sub County, in Vihiga, Kenya on household food security of its beneficiaries using qualitative research strategy. To meet the above objective 20 households in 20 villages were interviewed. One household was randomly selected to represent a village resulting in 10 beneficiary and 10 non beneficiary respondent households. Two Focus Group discussion (FGD) were held; one with the DCCP beneficiary households and the second with non-beneficiary households. The FGD comprised of 20 and 13 stakeholders respectively. In addition four key Informant Interviews (KII), were carried out to gain more insight. The data was collected using a topic list, semi structured interviews and Food Consumption Scores (FCS) and analysed in the context of the Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF). The findings showed that the dairy cow commercialisation project has contributed to improved household food security by strengthening farmers’ productive assets. The social assets were increased too because of belonging to commercial villages and Passing of “gift” calves in DCCP increased trust among beneficiaries and promoted social inclusion of the vulnerable members in the community. Further findings indicated that the use of dairy commercial villages has transformed the rural villages into a business hub through access to markets. The study established that the non-beneficiary households were experiencing food insecurity and lack of productive assets. The knowledge on food utilisation among both beneficiary and non-beneficiary households was low. Based on the findings the study recommends that Vihiga County could upscale the project to households that are yet to benefit. The study further recommends the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries & Cooperatives in Vihiga County to develop and incorporate food utilisation manuals in the farmer training programmes.

food security, household, commercial villages, dairy commercialisation