Vegetable chains in Kenya: Production and consumption of vegetables in the Nairobi metropolis

Vegetable consumption in African countries such as Kenya is low, which has a negative impact on the nutritional condition of the population, and on the production by smallholders. The goals of the project were to determine the potentials for consumption and cultivation in the Nairobi metropolitan region, to analyse the reasons for low consumption and to define strategies to stimulate consumption and production. Vegetable consumption can be increased, especially during the dry season when availability is low, and for low-income groups. Production can be increased through technical interventions and improvement of skills. Important is to improve the leverage of producers in the value chain and the efficiency of the value chain. Key elements are: stimulate urban farming; reduce the cost price throughout the value chain and make the value chain more transparent, accountable, shorter with less transaction costs; reduce post-harvest losses, develop a revenue system that better rewards farmers; improve cold storage and logistics, improve irrigation in the dry season; offer dry-season solutions through food processing; and pay attention to a number of life-style issues. The Netherlands can contribute in the fields of re-structuring the value chain, brokering between parties, food processing, consumer behaviour, production and product quality (irrigation, quality seeds, crop management), and R&D.