

@mastersthesis {6407,
	title = {Influence of seasonality and food availability on household nutritional status and implications for rural extension: a comparative study of western {Kenya}},
	year = {1995},
	note = {U077583},
	school = {The University of Reading (United Kingdom)},
	type = {phdPh.{D}.},
	address = {Ann Arbor},
	abstract = {The aim of this study was to explore, describe and explain the influence of seasonality in household food availability on nutritional status and to present the subsequent implications of the findings for rural extension. Objectives were several: first to assess household nutritional status; to determine causality especially the influence of seasonality of household food production and availability on existing nutritional levels; to determine the other factors affecting household nutritional status including household income/expenditure patterns, morbidity, education and literacy levels, demography, landholding sizes, environmental sanitation and gender perspectives in household decision-making; to evaluate the effectiveness and performance of rural extension programmes and the collaboration between them in tackling the multifactorial causation of malnutrition; and to discuss the implications of the findings for rural extension.The study was comparative among three population clusters namely Malaha in Kakamega district and Gaigedi and Vigulu in Vihiga district. In addition to food crops, Malaha grew sugarcane as a cash crop and Gaigedi cultivated tea; Vigulu had no cash crop. Livestock in all clusters were cows, goats, sheep and chicken. Results show that there were more females than males in all clusters; large household sizes and high dependency ratios; female household headship was considerable; most household heads were farmers and the rest of the population were either spouses or students; regular wage-earning employment was scarce and confined to male household heads only; inter-seasonal food stress was common and chronic food deficit implied; cash income was mostly spent on food and school fees; the community was found to consist mainly of small income, partially monetized small farmers in Gaigedi and Malaha; and to the near-landless subsistence farmers in Vigulu. (DX 189, 611).},
	keywords = {(UMI)AAIU077583, 0503:Agricultural economics, Agricultural economics, Bibliographies, Psychology{\textendash}Abstracting, Social sciences, Statistics},
	url = {http://search.proquest.com/docview/301531756?accountid=14270},
	author = {Alumira, J D}
}
