Kenya’s agriculture and economy are highly vulnerable to climate threats and highly dependent on climate-sensitive natural resources. Given the uncertainties regarding how different systems, departments and crops would be affected by climate change, there is a need for policymakers to draft adaptation plans using the most reliable information. The financial burdens of drafting and implementing such plans, however, can be quite heavy for developing countries.
The work of P4S in Kenya—including systematic assessments of risks faced by both the nation as a whole (CSA Profile) and regional agricultural value-chains (county-level Climate Risk Profiles)—provided a science-backed foundation for a US$250 million investment project for scaling CSA throughout the country. The World Bank used the national and county studies as the technical basis to develop the Kenya Climate-Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP), which seeks to bring CSA to scale, strengthen CSA research and seed systems and finance the development of agro-weather forecasting and market information systems. With this investment, Kenya is now moving forward in creating nationally and locally relevant CSA plans.
Photo credit: Joseph Gachoka (World Agroforestry Centre).