Conclusion
This study set out to determine whether improved on-farm storage has positive effects on stress perception and perceived coping abilities among pregnant women from smallholder farming households in Kenya. Results show that pregnant women from treatment households had higher perceived stress levels but also higher perceived coping abilities than pregnant women from control households. The findings suggest that the use of hermetic storage bags in Kenyan smallholder households provides pregnant women with a sense of empowerment to counteract the effects of PHL and thus food insecurity. Further research could examine the long-term effects of this intervention over several main harvest seasons to determine whether perceived stress levels decrease from one main harvest season to the next as pregnant women gain more experience and confidence in using this new storage technology. In addition, future research should focus on how this storage technology impacts maternal mental health in a broader sense and whether biological mechanisms, such as epigenetics, may underlie this association. Such findings could have important implications for countries in SSA, where women in rural areas are strongly affected by food insecurity and mental health problems [