Every one of us has the right to food and it cannot be denied. This right to food is also guaranteed by international law. By right to food, we mean that every individual must have the right to adequate food and dignity.
Food security means that all people have physical and economic access to safe, sufficient, and nutritious food and this food should meet our dietary needs giving us a healthy life. So, the availability of food is the major component of food security.
Route to food initiative is one of the steps to increase the availability of food in Kenya and provide hunger relief in Africa, Kenya. The whole purpose of this is to make food affordable to the common masses.
The right to food in Kenya’s constitution is embedded properly. It gives the duty to the government to take steps to increase food availability in Kenya. So, it is the constitutional duty of the government to ensure the right to food for every citizen. Article 43 of Kenya's constitution imposes the duty on the government to guarantee the right to food.
Agriculture and food security in the region can be achieved through Agroecology. Agroecology will be suitable for the environment and would ensure food security. It is the best possible solution to restore the country’s declining agricultural productivity.
Agroecology involves scientific farming practices and a social movement. Various projects have been initiated in Kenya to give food rights in Kenya. These projects aim to enhance the livelihoods of small farmers by increasing productivity and building strong food systems in Kenya.
The use of toxic pesticides in Kenya for agriculture is the major problem that is deteriorating the environment and soil quality. The route to food initiative is a project taken to mitigate the risk associated with the use of pesticides.
The four pillars of food security are availability, access, utilization, and stability. The route to food initiative aims to achieve all these four pillars. These four pillars establish food security in Kenya for the people. The important pillar is the availability of food. This can be achieved by healthy agriculture practices.
GMO food in Kenya is also gaining prominence which means genetically modified food. This is prepared by the manipulation of the genetic material of the food. It can be availed easily but is costlier and also not healthy for humans.
The food security bill in Kenya provides the legislative right to meet food security. It enables the government to make policies to mitigate food availability and affordability. The food should be nutritious and meet the need of every individual making them healthy.
So, the initiatives by the government and individuals can bring down the problem of food in Kenya. Though the problem is very big and could not be solved in the past year small initiatives can solve the problem.
