INFLUENCE OF HOUSEHOLD SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS ON FOOD SECURITY STATUS OF SMALL-HOLDER FARMERS IN UASIN GISHU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Food security is important to economic, social, religious, political and cultural development. The study assessed the effect of household characteristics on food security status among smallholder farming households in Uasin Gishu County. Descriptive survey was adopted for the study and data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Majority of respondents were male (56%), with an average age of 38 years and most of them (78%) married. One hundred and seventy-one (43%) respondents had secondary school as their highest level of education. In relation to gender of head of households, the majority were led by men, at 78%. A large proportion of the households (67%) had farm size below five acres with average farm size reported to be 2.29 acres. Majority, 91%, of the respondents owned the land with only 9% indicating that they leased land. Majority, 69% had more than six years farming experience. Majority of respondents sourced their food from own farm production at 96.9%. Majority (70%) of respondents had not experienced food insecurity. between demographic to their