From policy proliferation to coherence: Translating agroecological evidence into subnational food-systems governance in Vihiga County, Kenya

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture in Kenya is governed by numerous policies addressing crops, soils, livestock, water, agroforestry, climate change, biodiversity, nutrition, marketing and social inclusion. Yet the existence of many broadly supportive instruments has not produced coherent agroecological implementation at the subnational level. This study examined how policy proliferation, fragmented mandates, and weak coordination affect the translation of agroecological evidence into county food-systems governance, using Vihiga County as a case study. More than 50 international, continental, national, sectoral and county instruments were reviewed and interpreted alongside county agri-food-system data, locally generated biophysical evidence, and a participatory Vihiga County Agroecology Policy (VCAP) development process conducted between October 2022 and April 2025. Evidence integration was guided by Weiss’s interactive model of research utilisation. The process included a multidisciplinary Technical Working Group (TWG), stakeholder dialogues, farmer exchange visits, technical validation and public participation involving 4,201 participants across five sub-counties and six venues. The review found substantial normative alignment with agroecology but weak operational complementarity. Recurrent constraints included overlapping mandates, sectoral implementation, inconsistent localisation of national strategies, weak links between policy and annual planning, constrained financing and limited feedback between research, extension and decision-making. A food-systems framing helped connect agriculture, environment, nutrition, trade and social inclusion, while interactive evidence use converted research findings and experiential knowledge into five policy themes and nine strategic interventions. The paper concludes that the main policy issue is not a lack of appropriate strategies for sustainable agriculture, but rather an inadequate institutional framework to coordinate them effectively. It proposes a coherence pathway combining a county coordination platform, evidence-to-policy protocols, explicit mandate mapping, producer-inclusive public–private–producer partnerships (4Ps), aligned financing and monitoring, and iterative learning. The Vihiga experience demonstrates how subnational governments can move from policy accumulation to coordinated agroecological action without displacing existing sectoral mandates.