Climate change and variability: Experiences, coping and adaptation strategies among the smallholderorganic vegetable farmers in Central Kenya 1 Ndukhu, H1 !n"onga, #1 $enga, %1 &ahome, $' Henning, (1 )niversity of Nairobi, Kenya ' *e chnical )niversity of +enmarkail: hndukhu-gmailcom obile: .'/0'02/3/ ' 4ub5theme: 6gricultu re, Climate Change and 7ood 4ecurity Abstract 1
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The 8th Egerton University International Conference Paper Ndukhu
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8/10/2019 The 8th Egerton University International Conference Paper Ndukhu
irregular rainfall, drought, flooding, "ater logging, poor soils, pests and disease, and the destruction of
crops by animals Ho"ever, a strengths, "eaknesses, opportunities and threats 84&!* analysis on the
smallholder farming sector "as recently undertaken by Fett G 7reyer 8'33 and summari?ed the
main challenges and opportunities in the sector as policy based *his is because the government
though has put in place policies and legislation that protects farmers in general, no extension of such
policies existed for organic based farmers *his group of farmers is covered in the broad grouping of
the agricultural sector and thus the specific challenges they face "hich do not relate to other farming
practices cannot be ably addressed t is observed that small scale organic based farmers in Kenya are
faced by difficulties in gaining access to formal credit, since they do not have the re=uisite collateral to
obtain credit and also due to the fact that the financial institutions do not recogni?e the differences
bet"een organic based and conventional agriculture *he ma<or challenge of unreliable rainfall could
be associated "ith climate change "hich has affected the rainfall patterns #ainfall delays and
sometimes unexpected floods cause damage to crops and this is reflected in losses to the farmers and
food insecurity in the country at large as reported in this study
Coping strategies adopted by farmers in response to the challenges of "egetable production
)able I Coping strategies adopted by farmers in response to the challenges faced#
Challenges Coping strategies B
)nreliable rainy season rrigation >0Late planting '
Kno"ledge on soil input application ass application //
ndigenous techni=ues 0/
6ccess to soil fertility G nutrient analysis Flanket recommendations 0
!utdated information '2
@est and disease management Fiopesticides 11
ndigenous techni=ues >
No management 1
rrigation and late planting, mass application of inputs and use of indigenous techni=ues 8*able 1 "eresome of the coping strategies employed by farmers *o cope "ith the unreliable rainfall, only >0B
could afford to set up irrigation facilities on their farms "hile 'B practiced late planting 8*able 1
)se of mass application 8//B and indigenous techni=ues 80/B "ere the coping strategies for
inade=uate information on application rates and blanket recommendations of organic inputs 80B and
outdated information 8'2B for inaccessibility to soil nutrient and fertility analysis !nly 11B could
afford bio5pesticides due to cost and limited information made available to them 6bout >B of the
farmers made use of traditional kno"ledge passed on to them for generations "hile 1B did not make
any efforts to manage pests and disease 7armers assumed that more is better than less in providing
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8/10/2019 The 8th Egerton University International Conference Paper Ndukhu
crops and rain "ater harvesting as reported by about D3B of the farmers "ere the principal adaptation
strategies "ith over 1/B reporting afforestation 87ig 6bout >3B of the farmers adduced that
through farm planning and '3B training on climate change and variability they "ill effectively cope
"ith the effects of climate change and variability 87ig 2 Coping 4trategies are those that have
evolved over time through farmers; long experience in dealing "ith the current kno"n and understood
natural variation in "eather that they expect both "ithin and bet"een seasons, "hereas adaptation
4trategies are longer5term 8beyond a single rainfall season strategies that "ill be needed for farmers to
respond to a ne" set of evolving climatic conditions that they have not previously experienced n
undertaking research to elucidate farmers; possible adaptation strategies, such strategies are oftenconfused "ith farmers; traditional coping strategies n the context of addressing climate5induced risk
more generally, research on both is useful, but the confusion bet"een coping and adaptation inevitably
devalues the research and could "ell lead to erroneous recommendations *hese findings are in line
"ith Kaloki; 8'313 "ho deduced that almost all farmers intervie"ed 8D2/B had adopted a ne"
technology in the last 13 years *his "as important because ne" interventions in the area meant
adoption rates "ere high so long as the technologies are appropriate *he most important adaptation
techni=ue "as early planting follo"ed by planting drought tolerant crops and monocropping Fy
planting a sole crop, inter5specific competition for "ater is limited hence crops could perform better
)se of manure to provide high plant vigour in the initial stages of gro"th "as also identified as an
important practice alongside planting early maturing crops
a<ority of these farmers are small scale and food insecure t thus looks normal for farmers to seek
for technologies to improve their productivity ensuring food security before thinking of commercial
aspects of farming 84uri '33D *he aftermath of this process is that "ith time it is expected that even
those "ho employed strategies that are aimed at boosting incomes may not be favoured by the
changing climatic conditions *he situation may lead to a sustained condition of poverty and thus an
increasing farmers; vulnerability !ver generations, and especially in the more arid environments
"here rainfall variability impacts most strongly on livelihoods, farmers have developed coping
strategies to buffer against the uncertainties induced by year to year variation in "ater supply coupled
"ith the socioeconomic drivers "hich impact on their lives Ho"ever, such coping strategies are Orisk
spreading; in nature and are designed to mitigate the negative impacts of poor seasons and usually fail
to exploit the positive opportunities of average and better than average seasons n addition, farmers
often over5estimate the fre=uency of negative impacts of climate variability and under5estimate the
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8/10/2019 The 8th Egerton University International Conference Paper Ndukhu
0.0% Figure / Copping strategies to effects of CC.
Conclusion
7armers stated that some of the current techni=ues they use to cope "ith different challenges are not asefficient as they "ould have "anted *hey thus appealed for assistance from agricultural organic based
stakeholders, researchers and extension officers !rganic agricultural institutes in the given areas
should focus their attention on soil analysis, irrigation, green house production and recommendations
on site specific input application rates #esearch need to be conducted to avail information on pest and
disease management strategies affordable to smallholder farmers
@riority should be given in capacity development, vi?A developing conceptual frame"orks for the
impact path"ays of climate change, risk and trend analyses of historical "eather data and analyses of
impacts of climate variability and pro<ected climate changes on agricultural production *o ensure that
researches are e=uipped "ith the best tools and develop strong research capabilities, there is an urgent
need to invest in: "ays to improve access to information, "ays to enhance the research capacity, and
"ays to enhance the impact of the research undertaken
Ac$nowledgement
&e "ish to sincerely thank *he +6N+6 funded @roductivity and $ro"th in !rganic 9alue Chains
8@ro$r!9 pro<ect
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8/10/2019 The 8th Egerton University International Conference Paper Ndukhu