Speaker
Description
Introduction
Against a backdrop of an increasingly globalised food marketplace and increasing availability of a varied and consistent supply of fresh products on a year-round basis (Spence, 2021), consuming food that is ‘in season’ is advocated as a radical lifestyle choice and a socio-politically and environmentally conscious decision to engage in ‘ethical eating’ that has positive environmental, health, economic and societal impacts (Briguglio et al., 2017). The impact of this choice is particularly positive if food is locally rather than globally seasonal as the environmental costs, e.g., food waste and miles, associated with production in heated greenhouses, processing, and long-distance transport to market, are reduced (Vita et al., 2019). Consumption of ‘seasonal’ food is envisaged as a means of ‘reconcil[ing] our food systems with the seasons’ and realising ‘more sustainable, meaningful and healthy rhythms of growing, processing, preparing and consuming food’ (Boon and Schifferstein, 2022, p. 79). The continued prevalence of this positive conceptualisation of ‘seasonality’ in sustainability and food security discourse is indicative of a persistent ‘idealistic and “romanticised'' image’ of consumers - previously decoupled from the construct of seasonality in their everyday consumption patterns (Röös and Karlsson, 2013) - being ‘reconnect[ed] with the origins of the food they eat’; having a more nuanced ‘understanding of natural growing and production seasons of food’; and proactively choosing to consume ‘tastier, fresher and better quality [food] than that produced out of season’(Macdiarmid, 2014, p. 369). This image is premised on the idea that seasonal food production and consumption is a goal that is and should be aspired to by consumers, irrespective of their socio-economic class, due to ‘benefits [derived] in the domains of sustainability, health and wellbeing’ (Boon and Schifferstein, 2022, p.79). The idea that seasonality equates to sustainability is, however, at odds with the reality of seasonal food production and consumption reflecting a food system that is ‘spatio-temporal[ly] arrange[d] [...] [to] ensure supplies from other regions of the world’ and relies on ‘technology to achieve refrigeration and the “extension” of the growing season’ (Vincent and Feola, 2020, p.306). Moreover, the food system is ‘heavily reliant on migrant and seasonal food workers, who often face precarious living and working conditions’ and exists due to the clear ‘distinction [made] between those considered ‘citizens’, entitled to affordable food, and those working to provide these foods’ (Martínez, Brons and Wertheim-Heck, 2023, p. 2).
Objective
The objective of this study was to contextualise the construct of seasonality and its role in shaping the sustainability and food security discourse by drawing on a concrete case study, namely, smallholder agricultural production in Kenya and explore how farm households coped with the seasonal nature of production and consumption and the impact on dietary diversity and nutritional outcomes.
Method
This study was undertaken in seven counties in the Mau Narok-Cheregany complex in Kenya as part of the broader Prosperity Co-learning Laboratory (PROCOL) project. Data was collected through a modified Photovoice method, a recall questionnaire and focus group discussions. Thematic content analysis was undertaken using NVIVO. This study had ethical clearance from University College London in the United Kingdom.
Findings
The dietary diversity and nutritional outcomes of farm households in the Mau Narok-Cheregany complex reflected the influence of seasonal nature of food production and consumption. Farmers were aware that they were required to eat a balanced diet with diverse food groups to achieve good health outcomes. However, the majority of households did not consume diverse diets except during the rainy season when a variety of fresh produce was readily available in sufficient quantities and households were in a position to consume vegetable and staple crops as well as traditional indigenous vegetables foraged within and outside their farms. The majority of households kept cattle for milk production and small livestock, such as goats, sheep, chicken, and pigs, for consumption and/or sale. Milk production volumes reflected seasonal availability of feeds and fodder. Beyond the rainy season, consumption of animal source foods, fruits, and legumes was low. In addition to being impacted by seasonality, household dietary diversity and nutritional outcomes were impacted by a reduction in the diversity of foods produced associated with a move away from subsistence farming towards small-scale commercial farming. Farmers reported that they now focused on producing foods that could be sold in the market rather than for their own consumption. This led to a reliance on purchased foods which adversely impacted dietary choices as food prices followed seasonal trends, i.e. fruits and vegetables were cheap in the rainy or bumper harvest season and expensive in the dry and lean seasons. Climate change was reported as undermining household food (in)security, by exacerbating the seasonality of production and consumption, with the intensity of dry season conditions leading to crop failure.
Conclusion
Seasonality is a construct that is widely used in framing the sustainability and food security discourse but often without a nuanced appreciation for the implications and limitations of using a complex, value-laden construct that derives meaning from, and cannot be used without reference to, a given context. The results of this study underscore that, whereas in the Global North, the seasonal nature of production and its impact on consumption has largely been eliminated (Vincent and Feola, 2020), consumers’ food choices in the Global South are still impacted by seasonal differences in climatic conditions. The current prevailing conceptualisation in discourse of seasonality as an aspirational lifestyle and dietary choice should therefore be extended to capture the lived experience of smallholder farmers who are vulnerable to food insecurity and - despite producing food - consume a diet limited in its diversity. The availability of off-farm income is typically less affected by seasonality than farm income and therefore perceived as an effective mechanism to smooth food consumption (Sibhatu and Qaim, 2017). The results of this study underscore that the impact of seasonal food production and consumption is particularly adverse and acute for households with no access to off-farm income given their reliance on purchased foods during the dry and lean seasons.
