Integrating Governance Mechanisms for Food Security in Taita-Taveta County

Governance mechanisms provide a basis for better management of food systems so as to enhance food security. Integrating governance mechanisms in food systems requires robust inputs from all stakeholders for successful implementation. Taita-Taveta County is one of the counties that has suffered from adverse climate change effects that affect its food security basket. Additionally, the governance mechanisms applied have not yielded the desired results necessitating this study on what is the nexus of governance mechanisms and food security. The study, therefore, focused on analyzing the impacts of governance mechanisms on food security and adopted a mixed-method approach for data collection, from a sample size of 240 farmers calculated using a sampling formula. Results show that 72% of the farmers believed that the county government played its role in governance mechanisms. About 91% expressed willingness to adopt new technology, 89% suggested the need to adopt climate-smart agriculture in order to improve productivity. However, 88% stated a lack of awareness of policies for food security; 72% argued that the existing policies were ineffective. Although the study group felt food secure; 57% noted that management of food security had no impact at the household level, and 41% indicated that county management affected food distribution. According to the study’s findings, the county’s governance structures were crucial in guaranteeing food security for its residents. Although at the household level, there was little satisfaction, results showed that the county made efforts to build capacity, increase budgetary allocation and increase farmer’s access to inputs and credit facilities.