Knowledge, attitude and practices relevant to food loss reduction along the bean supply chain of the home-grown school meal program in Kajiado and Kitui counties, Kenya

Adoption of food loss-reduction measures greatly depends on the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAPs) of the actors. This paper analyses KAPs relevance to food loss reduction among supply chain actors. Focusing on Kajiado and Kitui counties and supply chains to the Kenya home grown school meals programme (HGSMP), face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaires gathered insights from a total of 108 farmers and 90 traders. Descriptive analysis, factor analysis and multivariate regressions were conducted. The results reveal that farmers in both counties have very different KAPs due to their different socio-cultural and agro-ecological conditions. Further analysis revealed that actors' knowledge, positive attitudes and practices are specific, distinct and crucial to reducing postharvest losses. Therefore, tailored capacity-development efforts and incentives that encourage behavioural shifts and adoption of appropriate postharvest practices and technologies are recommended to addressing food loss effectively.