By Valeria Mendoza

Meet Abdiaziz Beinah, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Nairobi. Born to a family of pastoralists in northeastern Kenya, Beinah earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in food science and technology from the University of Nairobi. His doctoral research with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety is producing new insights into the gender dynamics and food safety challenges in Kenyan poultry production.

Tell us more about your current food safety research with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety.

My research is centered in Kiambu County, Kenya, which is adjacent to Nairobi’s metropolitan areas. The overall project focuses on evaluating the food safety risks posed by pathogens, such as Salmonella and Campylobacter. My role in the project is to conduct a gender analysis to assess men’s and women’s different roles in poultry farming to better understand our target audiences for food safety training. We have talked with farmers to understand their food safety awareness, knowledge, and attitudes, and then we conducted a gender analysis to assess who does what, who owns the farms, who makes decisions, and who controls the income.

What have you learned so far about gender dynamics in poultry farming?

The beauty of poultry farming in Kiambu County is that women can run the business while they are also taking care of the family and the children, enabling them to contribute to the financial well-being of the family. I remember meeting an older woman who has had a very good poultry farm since 1974. She helped her two sons become medical doctors, paying their school fees through poultry farming. That makes me feel proud, because poultry farming is helping a lot of people achieve their dreams.

It has been fascinating to find that in Kiambu County, where the education levels of farmers may be higher than in other counties in Kenya, the majority of the poultry farms are owned by women, which challenges traditional gender roles in agriculture. Women decide when to purchase chicks, they decide when to sell, and they also decide what to do with that income. We were not expecting that scenario — the power they have to control their poultry business ventures in Kiambu County was amazing. This makes women a key target audience for food safety knowledge or training, as their central role in managing poultry farms positions them to directly influence the health and safety of the food supply chain within their communities.

But even though the majority of the poultry products are produced by women and youth, the control of the market remains male-dominated. For example, men often control the distribution networks such as transporters, traders, and brokers, which gives them greater influence over pricing and market access. Women and youth, on the other hand, frequently lack access to critical resources such as capital for business expansion, land for scaling up operations, and essential market information that could help them negotiate better prices or find new buyers. This disparity limits their ability to fully benefit from their production efforts and grow their enterprises

Based on your field experience, what are the main challenges to poultry food safety in Kenya?

The lack of advanced technology and adherence to best practices in the slaughtering process are significant challenges to productivity and food safety. In Kiambu County, despite its proximity to Nairobi and higher educational levels among farmers, there are considerable gaps in standard slaughtering practices and cold chain management, including during transport. These gaps potentially increase food safety risks, highlighting the need for better regulatory enforcement and farmer education. I think it’s particularly important for projects like ours to help farmers understand the food safety risks in poultry. In our study, almost 82% of the farmers did not know about Salmonella and Campylobacter as foodborne pathogens. You cannot expect someone who doesn’t even know about Salmonella to take precautions to avoid contamination.

How do you hope to impact the agricultural sector through your work?

Developing risk-based approaches to improve food safety, especially in smallholder farming systems, is something I believe can significantly reduce foodborne diseases. By providing training and building local capacity, particularly among women and youth farmers, we can enhance agricultural productivity and food safety while also empowering these communities economically. I believe that utilizing scientific data from the project to inform agricultural policies and practices can lead to more effective and efficient interventions, improving food security and economic outcomes.

Who are the project partners?

The key project partners are co-lead PIs Dr. Catherine Kunyanga (University of Nairobi) and Dr. Robert Onsare (Kenya Medical Research Institute). Their two research teams are working together to determine the baseline microbial contamination rates of Salmonella enterica and Campylobacter food pathogens throughout the broiler, indigenous, and spent layer chicken value chains. The teams will also survey chicken value chain actors about their food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Both institutions will build capacity by training graduate students and engaging local partners in the project. Additionally, the University of Nairobi team has conducted a poultry production gender analysis and will train local producers about food safe slaughter practices to reduce the transmission of pathogens throughout the poultry value chain.

Valeria Mendoza is a program assistant with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety and is pursuing a degree in Food Science at Purdue University.