Paper short abstract:

My study compares the environmental performance of different Food Systems present in the North-West Mount Kenya Region. A Life Cycle Inventory Analysis for representative products was used to compare the Agro-industrial Food System with the Local Food System.

Paper long abstract:

Kenya is one of the major horticulture exporters in Africa, with the Mount Kenya Region as a hotspot of commercial horticulture farms. However, there is also an enormous number of small scale farmers living in this region, producing food for either self-consumption or the supply of local to national markets.

The goal of my study was to do a Life Cycle Inventory Analysis of the different Food Systems present in the North-West Mount Kenya Region. Representative products of each Food System were followed along their value chain from the moment seeds were purchased until crops were consumed. In the study kilo-calories served as functional unit to make the Food Systems and their environmental performance comparable. Factors under investigation regarding the environmental performance of the Food Systems were the energy use, not only in terms of fossil energy but also of human energy, the material input such as water for irrigation or agrochemicals, and the waste production.

The focus of this presentation shall be the comparison of the agro-industrial Food System and the local Food System of rural small scale farmers. The comparison shows, that whilst the Agro-industrial System has much more inputs and energy use for the transport of these inputs, the major cause of environmental impacts in the Local Food System was misuse of agrochemicals.