Climate-Smart Agriculture

Book excerpt: The effects of climate change and climate variability on agriculture pose the greatest challenge for Kenya to realize its Vision 2030 and other agricultural strategies. Agriculture is sensitive and highly vulnerable to climate change/variability, whose effects are already being experienced in life threatening ways. Given the high dependency on rain-fed agriculture, people and communities whose livelihoods is conditional on agricultural sector are at higher risk of climatic extremes. This manual has been prepared to assist agricultural extension officers and community leaders in disseminating a list of Climate-Smart Agriculture practices. These set of practices when implemented in an integrated approach should ensure increased production and profitability, enhance resilience and adaptation to climate change effects but also promote low greenhouse gas emission. Though the list of practices are not exhaustive, the manual attempt to demonstrate possible effective combination of practices that are suitable for most of the Kenyan farming systems and which simultaneously achieve a farming approach that is productive, adaptive and with opportunities for carbon sinks. Each chapter describes a Climate-Smart Agriculture practice and tries to respond to the three questions of proposed technologies i.e. What?, Why? and How? The format of writing was intended to make it easy for the users to be able to apply the synergistic implementation of selected practices. This manual will be complemented by other manuals and policy guidelines prepared by FAO and the Government of Kenya to support policy makers in integrating climate change concerns in other development areas while achieving food and nutrition security.