Food System Modeling in Mexico & Farmer Family Nutrition in Kenya

Nestlé has assessed the regional food system with coffee farmers in Kenya, which had been identified as a key supplier for Nestlé where socio-economic conditions were unsatisfactory. The assessment showed that up to 70% of farmers and their families were short on food for 3 months a year, while simultaneously having poorly diversified diets that are short on proteins and certain micronutrients. A list of initial interventions have been planned which are expected to improve the farmers situation in the short term. These include, among others, farmers' training on nutrition, promotion of intercropping, the provision of good quality seeds for farmers to establish kitchen gardens, and livestock for improved nutrition security, as well as training on sanitation and provision of soap where required. Nestlé has hired a nutrition specialist who is examining dietary diversity among coffee farmer families, and is encouraging farmers to grow complimentary food crops for family consumption as well as sales to improve regional nutrition security. More than 85% of farmers trained on kitchen gardens have set up such gardens after the training, suggesting that they have understood the benefits of improved nutritional performance in their families. The farmers that have followed the training program also are mixing food groups when preparing meals, which has resulted in a measureable improvement of their household dietary diversity scores. The National Government of Kenya is now including the promotion of best nutritional practice in their country's vision 2030. The impact of the project could be further strengthened if farmers started to breed small livestock (chicken, goat) or perform aquaculture to further improve the quality of their diet with some animal proteins.