No matter where you call home, access to nutritious food is essential for health and wellbeing. But for many people, access to fresh fruits, vegetables and meat is limited either due to proximity or production. This is especially true in Kenya, where everything from weather to market problems can make it difficult to get farmers’ harvests onto people’s tables.
This summer, Basheerah Enahora, assistant professor and extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences, traveled to Kenya with five other faculty members from North Carolina State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to learn more about agriculture and nutrition in hopes of expanding partnerships between CALS International Programs and several East African organizations.
With this experience, Enahora’s long-held desire to work internationally was fulfilled and she was able to further develop her international research program.
“As an applied nutrition researcher and community-based scientist, I have always been fascinated by how our diets shape our traditions, values and behaviors,” says Enahora. “The trip to Kenya provided me with the opportunity to learn first-hand about culturally influenced dietary habits and better understand how we can develop community programs to increase dietary diversity.”
Enahora’s week-long visit to Kenya included stops in Nairobi and four rural counties – Siaya, Kisumu, Kisii and Kakamega. She met with colleagues at the University of Nairobi, including Vice-Chancellor Stephen Kiama and Sophia Ngala, a professor in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Technology whose research aligns closely with Enahora’s focus on applied human nutrition.
Their discussions addressed critical nutrition issues affecting both urban and rural communities in Kenya and generated ideas for future collaboration. Together, they explored potential interventions to improve food security, school feeding programs, and nutrition education, especially in rural areas. The exchange also provided insights into the dietary guidelines of the United States and Kenya, offering a valuable perspective on how different cultures approach nutrition.
Through her visit to the Post-Harvest Management Centre at the University of Nairobi and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Enahora deepened her understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing smallholder farmers in Kenya. She observed the cultivation of African indigenous vegetables such as managu, spider plants and amaranth leaves and learned about efforts to reduce post-harvest losses and improve market access for these vital crops.
The trip to rural districts in Kenya provided insightful insights into the lives of rural families and the agricultural challenges they face. Speaking with local government officials, including the ministers of agriculture and health, Enahora explored each district’s priority crops and discussed strategies to improve community food security. The interest expressed by the governors of Kisii and Siaya districts in partnering with the state of North Carolina on agricultural and nutrition projects underscored the potential for high-impact collaborations. Beyond professional obligations, Enahora enjoyed experiencing Kenyan culture, from sampling local vegetables and teas to touring the stunning Kenyan national park.
“What fascinated me most during my time in Kenya is that North Carolina and Kenya share many of the same food security challenges,” she says. “Although rural Kenya faces more infrastructure issues than rural North Carolina, consistent access to healthy food is equally concerning in both countries. How we solve these challenges may be different, but this trip showed that we have more in common than I had realized before my visit.”
Since returning to North Carolina State University, Enahora has been actively translating the learnings from her trip into actionable projects. In July, she worked with other CALS faculty, including Chadi Sayde and Emmanuel Torres Quezeda, on a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) grant proposal aimed at improving food security and promoting climate-smart agriculture in rural eastern North Carolina. She is also working on a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service grant proposal aimed at empowering Kenyan women farmers to participate in school meal value chains.
Enahora’s trip to Kenya has laid the foundation for promising future research and collaborations that have the potential to significantly impact the nutrition and health of populations in Kenya and elsewhere.
“I am evaluating the feasibility of conducting nutrition studies among families with school-age children and, in collaboration with faculty at the University of Nairobi, researching nutritional disparities among various rural communities in Kenya,” she says. “This study will help advance the development of community nutrition programs and expand the CALS International Program’s African Indigenous Vegetables project. I also hope to provide NC State students with the opportunity to travel to Kenya and participate in this research.”
