Summary of Baseline Household Survey Results: Makueni, Kenya

Abstract

This report presents a summary of the main results of a survey carried out between April 2012 and June 2012 in seven (7) villages with 140 households (HHs) in Wote, a benchmark site of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS)1. Wote is located in Makueni County in South Eastern Kenya. The survey was carried out using the standardised CCAFS household baseline tool. The results show that the majority of the surveyed households in the area are male-headed and less than 2% are child-headed, with an average of 6 persons per household. Education is highly valued in the area as a majority have received formal education. A majority of surveyed households produce food crops, fruits (mango and citrus) and keep livestock and hence the major livelihood is mixed farming. However, the farming is subsistence as most of the crops produced are consumed at the household level. More than 50% of fruits, livestock products and small livestock are usually sold. Also sold are the cash crops. Off-farm produce and products are not common in the area as land is privately owned and there is no communal land. The most important crops for consumption in the area are maize, cowpeas and pigeon peas and most important livestock currently is chicken. Fertilizer use in the area is very low. For our surveyed households only 2% are ‘food secure’ all year long. Only 1% have enough food for their families for at least 10 months of the year, and 97% of the households struggle to get enough food to feed their family for more than 2 months out of a year. All the households have made changes to their crops and livestock as a result of climate and market-related reasons. The radio is the major source of weather and climate related information in the area. This information in most cases is received by women. Most of the information received had some advice on what to do in weather aspects. The most changed aspects of farming upon receipt of all the information were crop type, crop variety, land management and change in timing of farming activities. The least changed aspects of farming upon receipt of relevant information were land area, field allocation, water management, livestock type and livestock breeds