Hortinlea Baseline Survey Report 2014

This report summarizes major findings from the HORTINLEA survey conducted in 2014 under the framework of HORTINLEA project. The HORTINLEA project is an inter-disciplinary research project addressing food security in East Africa, particularly in Kenya. The project targets to improve the livelihood and nutritional situation of the rural and urban poor. To achieve this, it focuses on production and consumption of horticultural crops, especially of African indigenous vegetables (AIVs). The HORTINLEA survey, conducted in rural, peri-urban and urban areas of Kenya focused on AIV actors along the value chain namely: producers, traders and consumers. The survey was carried out in September and October, 2014 where data was collected at the household, plot and community levels. It was administered using structured questionnaire with Geo-codes where more than 1500 actors were interviewed along the AIV value chain. Various topics were covered in the survey including household composition, education, health, assets, expenditure, credit and saving, agricultural and AIV production, agricultural and AIV marketing, nutrition, shocks and coping strategies. The most widely produced African Indigenous vegetable is African nightshade produced by about 72 procent of respondents followed by cowpeas produced by about 48 procent of respondents. AIVs are traditionally considered as "women’s crop" where almost 60 procent of the producers stated that women are responsible for producing AIVs and in about 57 procent of the sample women are also responsible for marketing of AIVs. Most of the sampled households sell their AIV produce where African nightshade is the most marketed one. However, most producers do not have contract with the buyer, but rather sell their produce directly to consumers. Most AIV producers sell their produce either at the farm gate or at a stand on weekly markets while less than two percent of respondents sell their AIVs via supermarkets. Even though the AIV value chain has many challenges, it has as well opportunities to improve. First, the link between producers to retailers and consumers could be expanded and formalized so that producers could benefit from marketing of these products. Second, post-harvest handling and transportation system of AIVs should be improved to ensure good quality and timely delivery of AIVs to consumers. Third, processing and value-addition activities could be introduced, which on the one hand improve the quality of the AIV product, while on the other hand create employment opportunity at different segments of the value chain.