Understanding Access to Fish Feed Among Smallholder Farmers: A Partial Proportional Odds Logit Approach Applied to Kenya Aquaculture Farmers

AbstractFish feed remains the most critical input in aquaculture, constituting up to 80% of production costs and influencing economic and ecological performance, yet systematic evidence on the extent of feed access at the farm level remains poorly documented in sub-Saharan Africa. This study introduces a Farm Feed Insecurity Access Scale, conceptually inspired by the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, to measure the extent of fish feed constraints among small-scale aquaculture households in Kenya. The FFIAS captures four domains - anxiety, compromised quality, insufficient quantity, and severe deprivation - through farmer self-reports over a production cycle. Data were collected from 847 aquaculture households through face-to-face surveys administered using KoBo Collect. Results revealed that while many smallholder farmers were feed secure, nearly half experienced mild to moderate insecurity, and a small but important minority reported severe outcomes such as ration cuts, and reliance on inferior substitutes. To explore the determinants of feed access insecurity, a Partial Proportional Odds Logit model was estimated, relaxing the proportional odds assumption where necessary. Results show that larger household size, extreme poverty, and greater distance to feed markets significantly increased the probability of moderate and severe insecurity, while higher education, income diversification, and use of digital tools enhanced feed security. Institutional factors – including formal aquaculture training, cooperative membership, extension access, and credit –reduced the likelihood of severe insecurity. Knowledge of locally available feed ingredients, information usefulness, and understanding of feed nutrition also played critical roles, whereas development support showed mixed effects. These findings underscore the multidimensional nature of feed insecurity and highlight the importance of strengthening institutional support, resource access, and aquaculture knowledge systems to enhance farm resilience and sustainability in small-scale aquaculture in Kenya and similar regions.