Abstract

This paper focuses on the effect of youth engagement in vegetable production on household well-being in Kakamega Town, Kenya. Survey research design was used and data was collected from 159 urban youth farmers using structured questionnaires and interviews. It was observed that the vegetable farmers engaged more frequently in weed control, land preparation, harvesting and planting. There was significant association between time spent on the farm and the size of vegetable plot (X2 = 46.074, p = 0.000 < 0.05) at significance level of 5%. Most of the vegetable farmers (90.5%, n = 144) reported that they will continue with vegetable production in the future. Some of the respondents (34.0%) reported that the vegetable produced was ‘more than adequate’ and 28.9% reported that it was ‘adequate’. Majority of the farmers (84.3%) bought vegetables from estate groceries. The youth offered wage labour on other people’s farms and were self-employed on their own farms. Urban farming was found to have led to greening of the city. To promote the well-being of the households, the Ministry of Agriculture and other key actors should support youth to engage in vegetable farming on large scale.

Key words: Food security, household well-being, informal sector, urban poverty, vegetable farming, youth.