Climate change
The Department of Agriculture in collaboration with World Vision Kenya has concluded a 5-day stakeholder workshop aimed at developing a context-specific training manual for climate-smart agriculture programming in Turkana County.
The workshop which brought together key players in the agricultural sector was held to formulate a comprehensive manual to enhance the capacity of farmers by addressing knowledge gaps and ensuring uniformity in the delivery of extension services across the county.
During the workshop, Director for Agriculture Aaron Nanok appreciated World Vision for facilitating the development of the manual. “The climate-smart agriculture manual is a vital tool that will promote sustainable agriculture and address the challenges posed by the changing climatic conditions,” Director Nanok said.
He noted that changes in climate and weather patterns have exposed the rain-fed farming systems in Turkana to many climate-related vulnerabilities thereby predisposing farming communities to food insecurity and poverty through loss of productive assets and the weakening of coping strategies and resilience.
“Innovative and transformative measures are therefore urgently required to assist stakeholders in the sector across the agricultural value chains to cope with the effects of current and projected change in climate patterns,” noted the Director.
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has been identified as a viable approach to provide solutions towards increased agriculture sector productivity while addressing the impacts of changing climate.
The development of the manual will be a significant milestone in sustainable agricultural development amid the effects of climate change. It will highlight the County Government’s commitment to driving sustainable climate-smart agriculture through innovative, farmer-friendly, less costly and high-impact technology.
The expected result is to sustainably improve food security, create resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The technical team involved in the development of the training manual comprised County-Crops officers, Agribusiness officers, project coordinators, Ward Agricultural officers, Environment officers, Climate change officers, County Economists and partners including TUPADO and Catholic Relief Services.
