A Large Share of Food Consumed in Kenyan Households is Purchased

Where do most Kenyans get their food, and how does it affect their well-being? A 2022 Kenya Continuous and Household Survey (KCHS) highlights three major sources of food in most Kenyan households: 

• Purchases (including stock)
• Own production
• Gifts

The KCHS evaluates a household’s total monthly expenditure on food to determine Kenya’s food poverty rates, absolute poverty rates, and hardcore poverty rates.^[1]

Since the largest share of food consumed in Kenya is purchased, households with little disposable income are unlikely to afford healthy, nutritious food.

Quick Facts

• 83.7% of total food consumed in Kenyan households is purchased
• Only 12.3% of the total food consumed is gotten from own production
• Gifts account for 4.1% of total food consumed in Kenya

A majority of food consumed in Kenya is purchased

Data from the 2022 KCHS showed that a significant portion of the food consumed in Kenyan households is bought.

Purchased food accounted for 83.7% of total food consumption. In urban areas, the share of food purchased is even higher, at 94.8%.

In rural areas, purchases and stock accounted for 78.4% of total food consumption.

Own-source production is a smaller share of total food consumed

Even though a majority of Kenyans live in rural areas and engage in subsistence agriculture, only a small share of the total food consumed is from own-source production.

Overall, own-source production accounted for only 12.3% of total food consumption in the country.

Own-source consumption in rural areas accounted for a higher portion of food consumed, at 16.8% than in urban areas, whereby own-source production accounted for 2.6% of total consumption.

An even smaller share of food consumed comes from gifts

Gifts accounted for only 4.1% of total food consumption in Kenya.

Gifts accounted for 4.8% of total food consumption in rural areas compared to only 2.5% in urban areas.

In most counties, the largest share of food consumed is purchased

Urban counties like Mombasa and Nairobi have the highest share of their total consumption coming from purchases.

In Mombasa, 97.8% of total food consumed is purchased. In Nairobi, purchased food accounts for 97.6%.

1. Kajiado 97%
2. Mandera 95.6%
3. Wajir 92.1%
4. Isiolo 91.9%
5. Garissa 91.5%
6. Kiambu 91.3%
7. Kisumu 89.9%
8. Machakos 89.8%

Counties that produced close to a quarter of their total food consumption include:

1. Elgeyo Marakwet 28%
2. Kericho 26%
3. Migori 25.9%
4. Nandi 25.7%
5. Nyandarua 24.9%
6. Bomet 24.9%
7. Nyamira 24.4%
8. Siaya 23.3%
9. Nyeri 23%
10. Kisii 21.2%

See Also

1. Food Poverty Rates in Kenya by County
2. Overall (absolute) Poverty Rates by County
3. Hardcore Poverty Rates by County
4. Poverty in Kenya by Constituency
5. How do we measure poverty in Kenya – Poverty lines

References