Help promote traditional foods in markets, experts urge state

Experts have called for increased investments in supply chains for nutritious foods in traditional food markets.

The investments will enhance infrastructural development and skills of sellers and consumers.

Agriculture Principal Secretary Kipronoh Ronoh said access to good nutrition plays a fundamental role in stimulating economic growth.

Ronoh said Kenya continues to face the triple burden of malnutrition characterised by undernutrition, hidden hunger and over-nutrition.

He spoke during the resilient markets and food systems governance meeting in Nairobi.

According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2022, 18 per cent of children between six months and five years are stunted.

Five per cent are wasted, ten per cent are underweight and three per cent are overweight.

Child undernutrition alone cost the country Sh373.9 billion, an equivalent of 6.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product in 2014.

Ronoh said child malnutrition results in reduced productivity and high costs of health-related treatment of malnutrition.

This is in addition to high education costs due to class repetition and absenteeism.

“Further, stunted workers are less productive in manual and non-manual activities compared to non-stunted workers, thus reducing their contribution to the national economy. This therefore calls for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to address malnutrition,” he said.

The meeting brought together government stakeholders, market committees and donors.

It sought to chart a roadmap towards realising resilient and inclusive food systems governance.

Ronoh said the country’s food systems are facing unprecedented challenges including low productivity and inefficient food markets.

In addition, food system actors involved in food storage, transport and trade systems and food retail, are not adequately focusing on delivering nutritious food to consumers.

The PS said traditional fresh food markets are critical hubs for fresh foods and remain a primary source of both staples and nutrient-dense food.

“They are essential to food and nutrition security of urban and rural residents. Presently, many of these markets are set up in a way that makes them structurally and operationally vulnerable to disruptions, such as, weather hazards, fires and power failures,” Ronoh said.

Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition country director Ruth Okowa said there is a need to advocate for policies and regulations that protect and promote informal markets.

This is in addition to recognising their role in feeding our nations.

“These investments are crucial to ensure that markets not only survive but thrive, becoming more desirable centres of commerce and access to healthier diets," she said.

"Let us draw inspiration from the challenges we face and the opportunities that lie ahead as we work to shape a future where markets thrive as engines of resilience, where access to nutritious food is a fundamental right and where communities flourish in harmony with their environment.” 

Six out of every 10 people in the world are expected to reside in urban areas by 2030.

Further, it is also projected that over 90 per cent of this growth will take place in Africa and Asia with unprecedented transitions in dietary patterns and shifts in food ecosystem.

Okowa said urbanisation is negatively influencing Sub-Saharan Africa household diets, evidenced by an increase in consumption of affordable, well marketed highly processed foods.

“Despite the great potential traditional fresh food markets have, market vendors remain vulnerable to shocks and struggle to access finance as well as social safety nets," she said.

"This coupled with land and facility ownership challenges and inefficiencies in market governance has further compounded the situation.”

Okowa said the need to enhance resilience of traditional fresh food markets through effective inclusion, empowerment and mobilisation of key food systems actors.