Nairobi, July 22 -- The number of Kenyans unable to afford a healthy diet has increased by 9.6 million over the past eight years on costly meals and reduced disposable income.

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), a United Nations agency, says 43.9 million Kenyans cannot afford a healthy diet, up from 34.3 million in 2017.

This emerges in a period when the cost of food has surged in an economic setting where workers' disposable income has also fallen, as employers' pay increases fail to keep pace with inflation.

FAO says the cost of a healthy diet has increased from $2.56 per person in a day to $4.5 over the eight years.

Workers' purchasing power has declined by up to 12 percent over the past five years, on the back of rising taxes...