Mary Nyasimi

Changing rainfall patterns and farmers’ adaptation through soil water management practices in semi-arid eastern Kenya

ABSTRACT There is limited documentation of soil and water management technologies that enhance adaptation to climate change in drylands of Kenya. Rainfall patterns were analyzed in the semi-arid Machakos and Makueni counties of eastern Kenya using historical data. A total of forty-three smallholder farmers implementing soil water management practices were sampled, and an estimate of the seasonal water budget for current crop and livestock production systems computed. Analysis of rainfall amounts and distribution shows increasing variability, with the average annual total amounts decreasing over the past 50 years. Furthermore, the number of rainy days within the March-April-May season that can support crop growth is gradually decreasing. These decreases are however not significant at P < 0.05. There were more seasons with low rainfall amounts compared to those with high rainfall amounts. All these subject the smallholder crop and livestock production system to limited soil moisture. Farmers address the risk by harnessing and utilizing green (rainfall stored in soil) and blue (rainfall collected into storage tanks) water technologies. The study found that farmers in these semi-arid counties practice fifteen diverse soil and water management interventions on their farms. The most popular practices are cut-off drains, retention ditches, terracing, run-off harvesting, and agroforestry. The estimated seasonal water budget indicates the need for integrated soil and water management interventions to address the crop and livestock production constraints.

Inclusion of gender in Africa’s climate change policies and strategies

Concerns of climate change impacts and adaptations have continued to receive much attention in both local and international climate change debate. It is now understood that the challenge of climate change cannot be addressed as a standalone issue but within different social, economic, and environmental contexts. It is currently acknowledged that Africa’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is insignificant. Except for South Africa, all the countries in Africa contribute below the global average of 3.5 m/ton of CO2 per capita. However, Africa is very vulnerable to climate change given its low capacity to respond and adapt. Furthermore, progress in enhancing better understanding of gender variations on the impacts and adaptation to climate change has been relatively limited. The differentiated impacts of climate change at local level add to the complexities of developing gender sensitive response strategies. With the endorsement of the Paris Climate agreement of 2015, African countries are now gearing up to implement international and national climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives. While progress has been in developing polices and strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation, it is critical to ensure that these do not lead to further inequalities during implementation. This chapter, therefore, aims at reviewing climate change related policies and strategies in East and West Africa through a gendered lens. The countries are Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania in East Africa, and Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa. Drawing upon a common framework/guideline, we examined commonality in policies, while recognizing the complexity in the social, economic and ecological systems of each country. The chapter further assesses the importance of integrating and mainstreaming gender into Africa’s national adaptations plans of actions (NAPAs), and Intended Nationally Distributed Contributions (INDCs), and the need for better gender oriented climate change policies, programs and plans.

Uptake of Climate-Smart Agriculture Through a Gendered Intersectionality Lens: Experiences from Western Kenya

This study conducted in western Kenya demonstrates how a gendered intersectionality lens can be used to explore how and the extent to which farming communities are coping with climate change. Results from a quantitative survey undertaken with 51 farmers and from 4 focused group discussions held with 33 farmers (19 males and 14 females) indicate that 85% of the respondents are willing to adopt climate-smart agriculture (CSA) interventions if constraining factors are resolved.This study reveals that farmers, regardless of whether they are male or female, are willing to adopt climate smart technologies and practices. However, factors such as ethnicity, education, age and marital status determine the levels of uptake of CSA technologies and practices. Looking at crops for instance, we find a high uptake (62.7%) of improved high yielding varieties (HYVs) amongst farmers with primary level education, meaning literacy levels influence adoption of practices. Analysis using age as a lens reveals that there is a high uptake among the youth and adults. Interestingly, the study site comprises of both the Luo and Kalenjin ethnic communities and even though they neighbor each other, we find a high rate of uptake among the Luo community due to existing social and cultural norms and practices related to farming. In conclusion, using a gendered intersectionality lens strengthens the argument for targeted interventions which focus on local needs and priorities while recognizing local contexts as informed by social, cultural and economic factors.

Strengthening Farmer Adaptive Capacity Through Farms of the Future Approach in Nyando, Western Kenya

Rapidly changing climatic conditions in East Africa are increasing sources of vulnerability for rural agricultural communities. Current agricultural practices and institutional coping mechanisms are unable to cope with these changes, and calls for adaptation in agricultural systems. The CGIAR Research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has developed the Climate Analogue tool that connects sites with statistically similar (‘analogous’) climatic conditions, across space and time. The tool can and has been used to connect farmers and agricultural stakeholders to their plausible future climates through the Farms of the Future (FotF) approach—where farmers learn about potential adaptation strategies and institutional innovations through farmer–to–farmer exchanges between analogue sites. The FotF approach can be used together with ongoing support for participatory action research to build reflective capacity and awareness of challenges farmers likely to face and to identify and develop possible solutions among farmers and other agricultural stakeholders. This paper documents the learning experiences of farmers from Nyando, in Western Kenya during through participation in the climate learning journey across other counties in Kenya. The paper also shows how these farmers are planning to use their learning experiences to design local adaptation plans of actions.