Cold Chains, from Net to Fork: Evidence from Kenya on Livelihoods and Community Resilience

Abstract

Small-scale fisheries in Kenya support more than 1.5 million livelihoods but face mounting climate and market shocks that threaten food security and income stability. Research led by Duke University and the University of Nairobi evaluated the Keep IT Cool model—a private enterprise linking fishing communities around Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana to higher value markets trough solar-powered cold storage and logistics. Results show that access to cooling reduced post-harvest losses, improved nutritional diversity, and strengthened households’ ability to recover from shocks, though short-term income effects remain modest. The findings highlight the importance of pairing cold-chain technologies with financial tools and policy supports that lower capital costs and make resilience an investable outcome.