Philip Kimeli

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.

Demand and experiences with financial products and services in climate smart villages

This study ‘Demand for and experiences with financial products and services’ describes and discusses the nresults of a survey to provide a first insight into the financial services that the smallholder farmers from nclimate smart villages use and to explore how these are related to climate smart agricultural technologies n& practices. The study is one of three preliminary studies of a multi-year international research project n(2016-2022) on ‘Business models, incentives and innovative finance for scaling climate smart agriculture n(CSA)’. The knowledge and insights developed are used to further support ongoing and emerging climate nsmart projects in which CCAFS is involved. nA survey was conducted to identify smallholder farmers and the small to medium enterprises (in different nstages of the value chain) and their demand for and experiences with financial products and services. nThere were 148 respondents from 24 villages from Latin America, West Africa, East Africa, Southeast Asia nand South Asia. The targeted number of female respondents (50%) was nog met in all regions, for example nin India where the role of female farmers in irrigated agriculture would be limited. A limitation to the results nis that in different regions a different number of villages was involved, making it more difficult to generalise nresults. Sometimes it would prove challenging to make conclusions about the reasoning behind the nanswers. The study is about adoption climate smart agriculture, but does not define the extent of adoption. ..

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.

Uptake of Resilient Crop Interventions to Manage Risks Through Climate-Smart Villages Approach in Nyando, Western Kenya

The changing climate is a threat to the smallholder farmers. Poverty and limited livelihood options increase vulnerability to climate risks. To counter this, a partnership between research and development organizations and the Nyando rural community developed Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) model to test local actions that ensure food security, promote adaptation and build resilience to climatic stresses. The purpose of the study was to explore the changes in farming practices made by households which are arising from the partnership. The study made use of household-level surveys for five years (2011–2015). The findings show increased use of terracing to conserve soil and water, intercropping, use of improved crop varieties, and households adopting three or more new crop types, greatly expanding on-farm choices for resilient varieties. The results can be used to showcase crop production practices suitable for adapting to the changing climate in rural communities.

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.