Potential adoption of grain amaranth production in HIV/AIDS-affected rural Kenyan communities

This study investigated the potential for the adoption of grain amaranth production as a livelihood strategy among households in two HIV/AIDS-affected communities---Amukura, Teso District, and Mwatate, Taita-Taveta District, Kenya. Livelihood system and ethnographic data were collected in the field from semi-structured household interviews and focus groups. Twelve male-headed households and four female-headed households with dynamic compositions and representative of the diversity of households in Amukura and Mwatate were selected using referral sampling. Data were analyzed for factors influencing the acceptance of grain amaranth and then used to construct three ethnographic linear programming models for each community to simulate diverse households' decisions in the current livelihood systems, with the introduction of grain amaranth as a potential livelihood strategy, and following the impact of an adult member contracting HIV. Findings revealed that acceptance of grain amaranth was most affected by socio-cultural factors. These included prior knowledge of amaranth, the methods of communication about grain amaranth, the source of grain amaranth information, and cultural concepts of grain amaranth including community myths and the traditional role of amaranth in a proper Kenyan meal. Initial ELP analysis revealed that households were more apt to adopt grain amaranth if they were not consuming enough protein, struggling to meet cash and consumption requirements, or lacking in adult female labor while adult male labor was still plentiful. In addition to these factors HIV analysis indicated that households were more apt to adopt grain amaranth if they were male-headed, had a high consumer-producer ratio, low land availability and sufficient available cash. Grain amaranth was also more likely to be adopted by a household when an adult female contracts HIV than when an adult male contracts HIV. Grain amaranth production has significant potential for adoption but varies in accordance with the diverse capacities and responses of rural households. Efforts to increase acceptance and adoption of grain amaranth can be enhanced by adopting a holistic approach which appreciates this diversity within the complexity of rural livelihood systems.