Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Food and nutrition security: Challenges of food loss and wastage in Kenya

International Conference on Food Safety and Regulatory Measures

August 17-19, 2015 Birmingham, UK

Judith Kimiywe

Kenyatta University, Kenya

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Currently, close to 1 billion people suffer from hunger and food insecurity, which is defined by FAO as, people do not have enough food to live a healthy life. Statistics in Kenya indicates that over 10 million people suffer from chronic food insecurity and poor nutrition, 2-4 million people require emergency food assistance at any given time with nearly 30% of Kenyaâ??s children being undernourished with 35% stunted and micro-nutrient deficiencies is wide spread. The problem of poor access to nutritious foods, which include indigenous local foods and vegetables, is even more daunting. Key among these challenges includes lack of certified seeds, seasonal production (rain-fed), high post-harvest losses and wastages, poor transportation, low value addition which reduces their market competiveness. Despite these challenge, African leafy vegetables (ALVs) and other local foods offer high nutritive value, medicinal properties and economic potential and are well adaptable to the diverse climatic conditions. There has been a lot of research in Africa to address the nutritional and health values of the indigenous foods and promote their production and use as a food-based strategy for mitigation of mal-nutrition, poverty and food insecurity. However not much has been done on establishing the value food chains that will add value and make them more competitive on the market. There is an urgent need to address these gaps through participatory, innovative community based interventions that will create resilience to climate change and enhance livelihoods of small holder farmers in diverse ecosystems.

Biography :

Email: jokimiywe@gmail.com Kimiywe.judith@ku.ac.ke