International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 3 No. 12 [Special Issue – June 2013] 107 Enhancing Food Security through Policy Re – Orientation in Laikipia Central, Kenya Titus M. Kilonzi Deputy County Commissioner Laikipia County Kenya. Abstract In Kenya, food insecurity affects people living in the rural, urban, high potential, arid and semi arid areas and the food policies have had limited success. This paper examines insights into how policy re – orientation can be used to enhance food security in Laikipia Central. The study was a descriptive survey involving a target population of 39 purposely selected government field officers. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the primary data collected using structured questionnaires. The response rate was 79.5 percent and the findings showed that food policies have not been successful in addressing food availability and accessibility. Therefore to improve on the policy effectiveness and efficacy it was recommended for policy re – orientation to improve on the policy implementation process girded on firm decision to act, to leverage on the available resources for affordability and flexibility, integrated approach leveraging on will and commitment and to empower the farming communities. Key Words: Affordability, Flexibility, Food Security, Food Insecurity, Laikipia County, Leveraging, Policy, Policy Re – Orientation. 1.0. Introduction Food security is understood to exist when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (Gitu, 2004). It is the food availability, the easy access to it and its subsequent utilization. It may also be described as the ability to meet the daily average per capita consumption of food per person per day or a person’s minimum daily energy requirements of 2,350 kcal of energy per person per day (FAO, 2003). This is the ability of a country or regions or households within the country to meet target consumption levels on a year- to-year basis. It encompasses availability through production, storage or import and the access to people through their purchasing power in markets or distribution. The main elements of food security are supply (availability), demand (access) and continued utilization of the food and are affected by farm production and non-farm factors (GoK, 2008) and they are food security indicators (Majda, 1999). On the other hand, food insecurity is a temporary decline or shortage in a country or regions or households to the access of enough food or it may be persistence of inadequate diet caused by lack of resources to produce or acquire food. A household is considered to be food insecure when its occupants continue to live in hunger with real threats of starving to death. The lack of food affects the population that is mostly poor or living under extreme poverty level and hence at a higher risk of starvation (KIPPRA, 2011). The food insecurity may be broadly due to inadequate investments, environmental changes and ineffective policy implementation among other challenges. Inaccessibility to food is also linked to the high poverty rates which lead to increased number of people depending on food aid with the arid and semi – arid areas being the most vulnerable in Kenya. According to Gitu (2006) food insecurity in can Kenya is either chronic or transitory. Chronic food insecurity is continuous inadequate diet caused by the inability to acquire food and affects households that persistently lack the ability either to buy enough food or to produce their own. Transitory food insecurity is a temporary decline in a household’s access to enough food which is Kenya’s main kind of food insecurity as a result of inadequate access due to instability in food production, food supplies and income as compared to countries which are chronically food insecure (Gitu, 2004). Kenya continues to grapple with the challenge of food insufficiency with the problem getting worse as the population increases against diminishing natural resources (Ayieko &Tschirley, 2009) with the goal of food sufficiency for domestic consumption and export remaining elusive.