Availability, Accessibility, and Diversity of The Highly Consumed Foods in A Rural Setting in Western Kenya

Drift in the consumption of particular foods in a setting affects the pillars of food security. To avert the drift that results in adverse nutritional outcomes, there is a need to assess the consumption of highly consumed foods in a particular area for an evidence-based approach to policy formulation. This study was undertaken to determine access to food, own food production, market access, and consumption patterns of foods, as well as the diversity of highly consumed foods in rural areas of Western Kenya. The study employed a cross-sectional design incorporating purposive and multi-stage simple random sampling and was analyzed using Python software. The data was presented in tables and charts. From the results, 53.6% often have no food, 44.8% sometimes consume smaller meals, 43.8% sometimes were worried about food, 40% complained about the limited variety of food, and 39.3% sometimes consume fewer meals. Further, 81.2% of the respondents rely on farming for food, and 59.4% of the respondents access the market on foot, 26.6% by motorcycle, and 14.1% by bicycle. In addition, vegetables and grains were consumed an average of more than five times a week. The study shows the drift of food pillars with the diversity of vegetables, but not on grains. To address the drift, there is a need to improve the access and diversity of foods. The improved diversity of grains will compliment already existing diversified vegetables resulting into a good health outcome.