Abstract:
Background: Globally, there is great concern about expanding agricultural activities due to their impact in the conservation
of agrobiodiversity. African continent is known for its richness in biodiversity. In Kenya, there is a continuous
unabated expansion of agriculture into natural habitats due to demographic and economic pressures posing a
significant threat to biodiversity. Therefore, there is a need to study biodiversity loss and its regain through practices in
agricultural landscapes. In this study, we assessed the status of agrobiodiversity and its contribution to food security in
four agroecological zones of Eastern Kenya. Sixty households were sampled from two selected agroecological zones
(upper and lower midland zones) in Embu and Tharaka-Nithi counties. Structured questionnaires and checklists were
used to collect the data.
Results: Thirty-nine crop species were identified dominated by vegetables, fruits, legumes and cereals with relative
densities of 28.8, 20.5, 18.3 and 8.3 %, respectively. Embu Lower Midland and Tharaka-Nithi Lower Midland zones had
relatively higher crop species richness of 243 and 240, respectively, and Shannon–Wiener diversity indices (H′) of 3.403
and 3.377, respectively, compared with Embu Upper Midland and Tharaka-Nithi Upper Midland zones with species
richness of 229 and 207, respectively, and H′ of 3.298 and 3.204, respectively.
Conclusions: Households from lower midland zones with high crop diversity and richness were more food secure
compared with those from the Upper Midland zones with low crop diversity and richness. These findings suggest that
farm production systems with high agrobiodiversity contributed more toward food security among smallholder farmers
in the selected sites.
