Why most Kenyan households spend more on unhealthy meals

The government has been urged to review and reduce taxes on food and other basic commodities and invest in agriculture to enable Kenyans to access and adopt healthier eating habits. 

Research done on the eating habits of various families across the country shows that many households are opting for unhealthier meals due to a number of factors, including high food prices amidst low incomes, exposing many to lifestyle diseases and other illnesses.

The study by consultancy group Wasafiri shows that analyses done over two years in the counties of Nairobi, Bungoma, and West Pokot counties revealed growing cases of poor eating habits among many Kenyans due to escalating commodity prices.

In the research done between April 2021 and June 2023, Wasafiri says that a study of a seven-day recall period of an average family indicated that households consumed only a few foods, primarily cereals, and vegetables regularly, interspersed with common beans and accompanied by tea.

Consequently, households consumed large amounts of milk, sugar, oils, fats, and salt as the common complements to the few foods, with the intake of healthy and sustainable foods less widespread.

Of the families visited, only 23.5% of households consumed at least four healthy and sustainable foods, ranging from 6%in West Pokot to 40% in Kibra. Households obtained most of their food from markets and local farms. 

To afford the cost of food, which combines the purchase price and cost of production for most rural households and the purchase price for urban dwellers, the researchers argue that households need adequate disposable income. 

This was particularly so because an analysis of an overall trend of household consumption indicated that nearly two-thirds – about 62% of households reported that healthy and sustainable foods were readily available in their local markets but were too expensive. 

At prevailing household food expenditures, incomes, and prices, between 73% and 94% of households could afford the reference healthy and sustainable food diet. 

“At 50% of food expenditures, the proportions that can afford the reference diet ranges from a low of 27% in Bungoma central to the highest of 65% in Kibra. In Bungoma and West Pokot, increased consumption of healthy and sustainable foods would require concomitant increases in income, reduction in food prices, or re-allocation of the household food budget. 

 “From the survey sample, household total expenditure was relatively low – with monthly medians of Sh7,000 to Sh16,00, and large proportions of households lived below the national poverty line,” researchers Dr. Hezekiah Agwara and Dr Catherine Kilelu argue in the report. 

“Male-headed households spent slightly more than female-headed households. However, except in Bungoma, the gender differences in expenditure were insignificant,” they added.

And on the diversity and quality of diets consumed by families, the research argues that low household dietary diversity was witnessed overall, with about three full food groups of possibly nine consumed. 

West Pokot households consumed an equivalent of only two food groups. As a result, diets in nearly two-thirds of households ranging from 38%in Kibra to 98% in West Pokot, were of low diversity. To derive diet quality scores, we applied the new Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) to food consumption data. 

“The results show median diet quality scores of 20.5 overall, ranging from 19.5 in West Pokot to 21.5 in Bungoma. The total diet quality score was less than half the possible maximum in all areas. It ranges from 40% in West Pokot to 44% in Bungoma,” the research shows. 

 These results, the report argues, suggest that the low dietary diversity and quality are attributable to low incomes, high food costs, highly seasonal food availability, and weak preferences for some healthy foods. 

Apart from seasonal availability through own production, household income was also the key factor behind observed food and dietary choices, specifically its influence on production and purchasing power. 

In addition, while households expressed concerns about the adverse health effects of harmful food production methods, such as excessive application of inorganic fertilizers and agrochemicals, a majority paid no attention to the sustainability of the diets concerning environmental health. 

“In conclusion, the barriers to accessing diverse and quality diets are directly related to consumers generating sufficient incomes to afford different foods, both own produce and purchase or food prices becoming sufficiently low to afford with current incomes. For the latter to happen, the food supply chains need to be more efficient and the business environment friendlier and less expensive,” the researchers argue. 

“Review supply chain and business taxation regimes to make them more progressive and predictable, including combating informal taxation, reducing multiple taxations, and providing tax and services incentives for agri-food businesses,” the report adds. 

The report also argues that there is a need for the government to collaborate with value chain stakeholders, facilitate linkages of agri-food businesses, as well as partner with Micro and Small Enterprises Authority and other stakeholders to mobilise agri-food businesses into functional local and community-based business associations.