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With research staff from more than 70 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

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David Spielman

David Spielman is the director of IFPRI’s Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit and has been with the institute since 2004. His research agenda covers a range of topics including agriculture and rural development policy; agricultural science, technology, and innovation; plant genetic resources and seed systems; agricultural extension and advisory services; and community-driven rural development.

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Development Strategies and Governance

Juneweenex Mbuthia

Research Officer

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Bio

Juneweenex Mbuthia is a Research Officer in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Her research interests include agricultural economics, gender, and climate change policy research and analysis, with a specific focus on food systems transformation, economywide analysis, computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling, social accounting matrices (SAM), and multiplier analysis. Juneweenex has worked for international and national research think tanks in Kenya and holds a master’s degree in economics.

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Publications

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Brief

Kenya: Systematic analysis of domestic production and world market shocks

2024Mukashov, Askar; Mbuthia, Juneweenex; Omune, Lensa; Jones, Eleanor; Thurlow, James
Details

Kenya: Systematic analysis of domestic production and world market shocks

This study explores Kenya’s vulnerability to economic shocks and identifies those contributing most to economic uncertainty. The Kenyan Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model was employed to simulate a range of po-tential economic outcomes under various sampled shock scenarios developed using historical data to capture do-mestic agricultural yield volatilities and world market prices uncertainty for traded goods. Data mining and machine learning methods were applied to quantify the contribution of each shock to the uncertainty of economic outcomes (gross domestic product [GDP], private consumption, poverty, and undernourishment). Key findings suggest that domestic yield volatility is the key risk factor for GDP, urban consumption and poverty, while external risks, partic-ularly world beverage crop prices, are more significant for rural consumption and poverty. As the majority of those below the poverty line are rural farmers, world beverage price volatility is the top risk for national poverty levels. Finally, for undernourishment outcomes, domestic cereal yield volatility is the dominant risk factor for all household types. Understanding how possible shocks would impact various segments of the Kenyan economy and population is a critical first step in facilitating discussions on relevant risk mitigation strategies, such as increasing average crop yields, adopting technologies and practices that narrow yield uncertainties, or diversifying production away from risky crops and sectors.

Year published

2024

Authors

Mukashov, Askar; Mbuthia, Juneweenex; Omune, Lensa; Jones, Eleanor; Thurlow, James

Citation

Mukashov, Askar; Mbuthia, Juneweenex; Omune, Lensa; Jones, Eleanor; and Thurlow, James. 2024. Kenya: Systematic analysis of domestic production and world market shocks. Economywide Risk Assessment Country Brief 2. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168180

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Climate; Shock; Market Prices; Computable General Equilibrium Models; Agriculture; Crop Yield; Poverty; Nutrition; Machine Learning; Risk Assessment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Foresight

Record type

Brief

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Book Chapter

A way forward: Policy-driven transformation

2023Breisinger, Clemens; Keenan, Michael; Mbuthia, Juneweenex
Details

A way forward: Policy-driven transformation

This book has adopted a food systems framework as a new way of conceptualizing and designing food policies and research. Looking beyond agriculture and value chains makes it possible not only to turn food systems into a driver of economic transformation but also to better include health, productivity, resilience, inclusivity, and sustainability as integral parts of system transformation. Such a fresh approach is urgently needed in light of limited development progress over the past years in Kenya and other countries. The share of manufacturing—traditionally a driver of economic transformation—in total output remains low; maize yields have been stagnating for the past 20 years; and poverty and food insecurity are on the rise again (Nafula et al. 2020; FAOSTAT 2022). In addition to structural challenges, growing challenges and vulnerabilities such as the threat of pandemics, commodity price crises, climate change, and conflicts, call for a new development and food policy paradigm (Breisinger et al. 2022; UNICEF 2022). At the same time, such a fresh approach can also help in harnessing the new opportunities that come with digitalization and with (policy) lessons from other countries that can be adapted to the Kenyan context.

Year published

2023

Authors

Breisinger, Clemens; Keenan, Michael; Mbuthia, Juneweenex

Citation

Breisinger, Clemens; Keenan, Michael; and Mbuthia, Juneweenex. 2023. A way forward: Policy-driven transformation. In Food Systems Transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the Past and Policy Options for the Future, eds. Clemens Breisinger, Michael Keenan, Juneweenex Mbuthia, and Jemimah Njuki. Part 6: Toward more sustainable food systems, Chapter 19, Pp. 493-508. https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896294561_19.

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Food Systems; Policies; Agriculture; Value Chains; Health; Agricultural Productivity; Resilience; Sustainability

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896294561_19 Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Book Chapter

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Book Chapter

Assessing the resilience of Kenya’s food system: A production approach

2023Ulimwengu, John M.; Mbuthia, Juneweenex; Omune, Lensa
Details

Assessing the resilience of Kenya’s food system: A production approach

A food system includes all elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructures, institutions, etc.) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution, preparation, and consumption of food, and the outputs of these activities, including socioeconomic and environmental outcomes (HLPE 2017). Thus, a food system links society and nature (Blesh and Wittman 2015). Resilience is “the ability of people, households, communities, countries and systems to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth” (USAID 2018). Applied to food systems, resilience is defined by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) as the ability to withstand major shocks and stressors emanating from climate/weather, conflict, disease, external economic shocks, and other sources, which, if not prevented or mitigated, would delay, or limit economic progress, transformation, prosperity, and self-reliance (AGRA 2021). In this sense, resilience of a food system may be considered a system property that plays a critical role in its sustainability (Jacobi et al. 2018), thus ensuring sustained food security. This chapter adopts this definition with the objective of assessing the resilience of Kenya’s food system and its components using systemwide metrics. Specifically, we use a production approach based on input–output linkages. This file also includes the introduction to Part Four.

Year published

2023

Authors

Ulimwengu, John M.; Mbuthia, Juneweenex; Omune, Lensa

Citation

Ulimwengu, John M.; Mbuthia, Juneweenex; and Omune, Lensa. 2023. Assessing the resilience of Kenya’s food system: A production approach. In Food Systems Transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the Past and Policy Options for the Future, eds. Clemens Breisinger, Michael Keenan, Juneweenex Mbuthia, and Jemimah Njuki. Part 4: Toward more resilient food systems, Chapter 10, Pp. 261-284. https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896294561_10.

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Food Systems; Resilience; Sustainability; Agricultural Production

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896294561_10 Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Book Chapter

Events

Food Systems Transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the Past and Policy Options for the Future
Series/Special Event

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January 8, 2024, 4:30 – 5:45 pm

Food Systems Transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the Past and Policy Options for the Future

Hybrid Event: January 8, 2023 at 8:30am-9:45am EST/ 4:30pm-5:45pm EAT. During this hybrid book launch, speakers from academia, Kenyan research institutes, policy institutions, and CGIAR will discuss the new book Food System Transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the Past and Policy Options for the Future. A light reception will follow the presentations.

Kenya Discussion of IFPRI’s 2023 Global Food Policy Report: Rethinking Food Crisis Responses
Series/Special Event

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May 19, 2023, 7:00 – 9:00 am

Kenya Discussion of IFPRI’s 2023 Global Food Policy Report: Rethinking Food Crisis Responses

Virtual Event: May 19, 2023 – 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM EDT. The Kenya discussion of IFPRI’s 2023 GFPR will present key findings and recommendations of the report at global and regional levels. A distinguished set of discussants will then present their reflections on the report and provide insights on crisis response and resilience building in Kenya.

National Policies and Strategies for Food, Land and Water Systems Transformation (NPS)
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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May 17 to 18, 2022

National Policies and Strategies for Food, Land and Water Systems Transformation (NPS)

Virtual Event: May 17, 2022 – 9:00 AM to May 18, 2022 – 2:00 PM EAT. This event will introduce the NPS initiative and bring together key stakeholders to help plan a specific work program for Kenya in the next three years.

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News

January 08, 2024 | Press Release

A new book provides a roadmap for food systems transformation in Kenya

The past few years have seen Kenya, along with many other countries, confronted with multifaceted and compounding challenges. The disruptions caused by COVID-19, high levels of food price inflation, and environmental crises, such as locust infestations and droughts, have severely tested the resilience of Kenya’s food systems and the affordability of food for its citizens. […]