Assessing market incentive policies in Kenya with a food security and nutrition perspective: a macromicrosimulation approach | Priscila Ramos
Maria Priscila Ramos, (IIEP), Estefania Custodio, (JRC Seville), Sofía Jimenez Calvo (JRC Seville and Universidad de Zaragoza), Alfredo Mainar-Causapé, (JRC Seville), Pierre Boulanger, (JRC Seville) y Emanuele Ferrari (JRC Seville) publicaron el informe "Assessing market incentive policies in Kenya with a food security and nutrition perspective: a macromicrosimulation approach"
Ingresar aquí para descargarlo
Kenya,
such as other African countries, is particularly concerned about the
achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal #2 (SDG #2: zero hunger), and
its associated consequences for the society. Empirical evidence about food
security and nutrition in Kenya accounts for deficiencies in food access, food
sufficiency and food quality at the household level. These deficiencies are
among others the causes of all forms of malnutrition (stunting, wasting and
overweight), which can lead to cognitive impairment, limited immunity to
diseases, low educational performance, increased risk of chronic disease and even
mortality cases of children in this country.
To solve the food security and nutrition
problems in Kenya is a challenging issue because of the different dimensions to
be tackled (economic, environmental, educational, health and sanitation) and
also because of the heterogeneity that characterizes households (income and
food expenditure, education level of households’ head, regional sanitation
coverage, access to potable water / waste water system, etc.).
In
the recent past, the Government of Kenya supported the construction of a
roughly €1.1 billion fertilizer plant in Eldoret in the framework of a
fertilizer cost reduction strategy aiming at stabilizing fertilizer prices and
making fertilizer more accessible through local manufacturing, blending and
bulk procurement. Increasing the domestic production of fertilizers should
reduce the price of fertilizer, making them more accessible for farmers.
Co-authors of this report, employing the STatic Applied General Equilibrium for
DEVelopment (STAGE-DEV) Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, calibrated on
a Social Accounting Matrix Kenya 2014, evaluated the impact on food security of
the creation of the fertiliser plant together with three additional policy
scenarios (market access, extension and subsidies removal). For the purpose of
this study, we developed a macro-micro simulation model, based on the
previously developed CGE and policy scenarios and on microsimulations using the
Kenya Integrated Household Budged Survey 2015/2016.
This
policy scenario also leads to the largest increases in diet energy consumption,
with similar distributive results as for the purchasing power impact.
Increasing fertilizers’ availability paired with improving crops productivity
in agricultural practices (extension scenario) leads to the largest increase in
energy consumption, particularly from fats in the diet, among households with
low diet diversity. Average protein and carbohydrate consumption at national
level increase the most within the market access scenario.
The
results confirm the findings of the previous report. Increasing fertilizer
availability in Kenya is not enough to improve food security in the country.
The contribution of complementary policies, such as increasing the market
access for fertilizers and agriculture by improving the rural infrastructure or
improving the extension services to train small-holder farmers about fertilizer
and land use, that give farmers better access to input and output markets is
needed.