Enhancing Climate Smart Agriculture in Nyando through innovative

partnerships, decision support tools and Climate Information Services

Nyando CCAFS Site Review and Planning workshop17-18th December, 2013

The Vic Hotel, Kisumu, Kenya

The Problem• Climate risk contributes to chronic poverty,

food insecurity and vulnerability• Opportunities to help farmers cope with

current climate and adapt to a future climate depend on information

Climate Information Service

• Is the dissemination of climate information to the decision maker or user.

• Purpose is to interpret and apply for decision making.

Farmers’ decisions ahead of a season usually consider ...

Improved understanding leads to better decisions

soil properties?

historical climate?

crops requirements?

future markets?

future climate?

past markets?

Main Objective

• to build the capacity of the smallholder farmers to manage climate risks and to adapt to climate change

Specific objectives1. To build partnerships between

farmers, researchers, extension agents, NMS, agro-dealers and media to strengthen farmers’ capacity to manage agricultural climate risks and adapt to climate change.

2. To apply DSTs to enhance farm-level decision making, climate risk assessment and analysis of coping and adaptation options.

3. To promote wider use of DSTs by making it easy to access and process input data from various sources.

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Specific objectives

4. To identify gaps in climate services and develop new products that meet the needs of farmers.

5. To develop communication strategies that enhance farmers’ capacity to manage climate-related risks.

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Conceptual framework

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Keywords

CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE

PARTNERSHIPS

DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS (DSTs)

CLIMATE INFORMATION SERVICES

PARTNERSHIPS

Role of partners

Kenya Met Service analyzes historical rainfall data

Maseno University builds capacity analyze climate data

Kenya Met Service, KARI- Kibos and Min of Agriculture jointly prepare downscaled seasonal climate forecasts and advisories

Farmers in FOKODEP, NECODEP & KAPSOKALE CBOs experiment and innovate on their farms

Magos Enterprises does soil sampling, sells inputs and rain gauges

Min of Agriculture extension officers support farmers in capacity building and experimentation

Kisumu Met Station MAM analysis

Start of MAM Rain including a dry spell condition(First day after 1st March with 20mm in 4 days, dry spell not exceeding 7 days in 30 days)

year2020201020001990198019701960

14 Apr

9 Apr

4 Apr

30 Mar

25 Mar

20 Mar

15 Mar

10 Mar

5 Mar

Analysis to be done for other stations

Downscaling and Communicating Seasonal and Short Term Forecasts

Integrating with agricultural advisories

Soil Analysis, Rain Gauge Installation, Farmer Experimentation

Farmers Climate and Crop Calendar

AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY

Plan for the season

Get SeasonalForecast

Manage your Cropand SoilFarm records

Harvest Add valueMarket

Manage your Crop and SoilFarm records

Know your Crop and Soil

Get forecast updates

Know your past climate

Review SeasonPrepare land

Measure rain

Prepare land

Get forecast updates

Measure rainMeasure rainMeasure rain

Get SeasonalForecast

Achievements in 2013

• Stakeholder inception meeting• Partnership building has started• Data for Kisumu and Kericho Met Stations

analysed• Trained 40 farmers in the three CBOs• Resource allocation maps 40 farmers• Crop modelling has started• Crop climate requirements compiled by KARI

Next steps

• Improve seasonal forecast downscaling• Install of 45 rain gauges• Farmer experimentation MAM 2014 season• Climate data analysis for extra stations• Soil analysis in 40 farms• Participatory Crop Modelling in Jan 2014 • Development of climate products and services and

communication approaches• Farmer training manuals• Scientific publications

Thanks