Kenya project 615-0190 · 1984–1991 · agriculture · Development Planning and Research Associates, Inc.

Results of a prospective evaluation of A.I.D.'s On-Farm Grain Storage Project - a project to improve postharvest grain handling, processing, and storage by small farmers in western Kenya - are presented in this report. The study profiles the physical, sociocultural, economic, and population characteristics and problems of western Kenya. Grain production, harvesting, and postharvest practices are analyzed with particular attention to major constraints, male and female roles and perceptions, household decisionmaking patterns, and access to and impact of credit and extension. The authors conclude that inadequate grain storage is less of a problem than inadequate production among the poorest small farmers. Most farm support services have gone to progressive small farmers, widening the production gap between the two groups. Women, the primary food crop producers, have had virtually no access to agricultural credit and extension. Although improving grain storage alone might marginally improve food quantity, the project's success will depend on its linkage with other projects aimed at improving agricultural productivity, credit availability, education on credit use, extension, and ma

Source: DEC abstract, PN-AAQ-769 (1984). The source's own text.