The role of women-led micro-farming activities in combating HIV/AIDS in Nakuru, Kenya

Abstract

The case study is based on an action-research project entitled 'Combating HIV/ AIDS in Urban Communities through Food and Nutrition Security: The Role of Women-led Micro-livestock Enterprises and Horticultural Production', which is being implemented in Nakuru, Kenya. Nakuru is the fourth largest town in Kenya, with a multi-ethnic composition of about 320,000 residents. Crops are cultivated in people's compounds, along roads and railways, and under power lines; livestock are kept in compounds or on vacant land, while others are free-range. The main objective of the project was to improve the food and nutrition security of households in HIV/AIDS-affected communities in Nakuru Township, in order to contribute to mitigation of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the livelihoods of households. The case study describes how gender was incorporated in diagnosis, design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and policy-infl uencing phases of the project. A baseline survey was conducted in 11 out of 15 wards of Nakuru municipality, where 85 male-headed and 70 female-headed households were interviewed. Results of the diagnostic study were used to design two interventions: a vegetable intervention currently involving six male and 44 female representatives of households, of whom 40 are also participating in a dairy-goat project. Households that actively participated in the vegetable project were selected to receive the dairy goats. Produce from both interventions are for domestic consumption, and any surplus is sold. Beneficiaries received basic training in vegetable production and dairy-goat husbandry techniques including feeding, housing, and detection of basic diseases; and they were assisted with initial inputs such as seeds, pesticides, land preparation, and irrigation networks