Abstract:
Hunger and food insecurity are present and prominent threats to human development, and are especially dire in the developing world. At least a third of Kenya‟s population suffers from chronic and routine hunger and malnutrition, including farmers, pastoralists, and people living in both rural and urban areas of the country. While this situation of food insecurity has been caused by technical issues such as climate change, poor quality seeds, soil degradation and reliance on rain-fed agriculture, structural issues have been a key obstruction to the achievement of food security. These issues include corruption and graft, gender inequality, weak coordination of policies, low levels of investment in research and extension services, poverty and infrastructure. There is also a clear disconnect between legislation and action in reference to policies and programmes meant to address food insecurity in Kenya. The main objective of this research is to demonstrate that the rule of law does play a role in the process of pursuing food security; a rights-based approach to food security is just as important as a market-based approach. The researcher identified key issues that threaten food security in Kenya including poverty, low productivity, climate change, corruption and misappropriation of funds, and poor post-harvest storage and management of products. This research employed a mixed methodology – primary and secondary- with a heavy reliance on secondary data collected from policy documents, international organizations reports, books, journals and articles on food security, and primary data sourced from experts in various organizations in the food security sector. This was done through in-person interviews. For Kenya to overcome the structural challenges that threaten food security, the rule of law needs to be effectively implemented equally, on all citizens. There is also a need to address the gap between policy and legislation and their implementation on the ground, support small scale farmers in greater capacities through funding, provision of seeds, research and extension services as well as technological support, implementing policies that promote gender equality especially regarding women ownership of land and factors of production, implementation of the Food Security Bill and the elimination of patronage relationships in high ranking offices.