Abstract

Dr. Nkirigacha-Miriti Evayline Muthoni*

ABSTRACT

Food production and utilization using urban agriculture goes a long way in fulfilling the human right to food and freedom from hunger. The aim of this study was to assess the foods produced and proportion consumed by lactating mothers of Nairobi. This cross sectional study was had 260 randomly selected lactating women living in Mwiki, Nairobi Kenya. A structured, validated and pre-tested questionnaire was used to obtain information on socioeconomic characteristics, food production and consumption. Data was entered into SPSS version 20 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine associations. Majority (61.6%) participated in urban agriculture. In crop production, maize (26.5%) home consumption, beans produced (28.4%) and home consumption was 18.4% and 10% was sold. Amaranth was produced at 25.7%, 8% consumed at home and 17.7% was sold other crops were grown in small quantities. 57.3% of the respondents owned land to practice urban agriculture. Majority of them (15.3%) had 250m2 plots and 26.3% of these had inherited the land they had. Where the respondents did not own the land, they were renting (7.8%). More women (31.8%) than men (21.6%) decided on what crops to plant. More women (35.7%) provided labor for agriculture. More respondents consumed and also sold (34.1%) the produce compared to those who consumed only (27.8%). Vegetables were not a major food crop produced. Intervention programs should target on emphasizing the production and consumption of vegetable to increase availability and help meet the increased nutritional needs of the lactating.