This archive report was first published on 13 July 2020.
Climate change is a pressing concern for farmers across Kenya, and the country's agricultural development plans are no exception. To achieve food security, Kenya must adopt conservation agriculture (CA) aggressively, as projected in the country's current agricultural development plans. CA is a modern and mechanized farming technique that allows crops to be planted without turning the soil, making it an ideal approach in today's climate change era.
According to Dr. Pascal Kaumbutho, Managing Director of Agrimech Africa Limited, there is a need for sustained innovation in areas like drought-resistant varieties of seeds, environment-friendly farming practices, and better post-harvest management to reduce losses. Dissemination of information to farmers across the country is also key in the implementation of climate-proofing agricultural value chains.
Kenya is losing unforgivable volumes of fertile top soils to erosion, not only in sloppy but all agricultural lands. Hard pans developed by hoe and mouldboard farming of the past cause flooding and erosion, to the detriment of sustainable farming practice and food security. Land is quickly becoming desert, or simply unable to withstand healthy cropping.
By practicing CA, farmers can fit themselves in landscapes and learn ways of increasing soil health and productivity per unit of land (sustainable intensification), other than putting more land under production. This means creating soil structures that prevent soil erosion where there is slope, planting trees to protect soils, and creating clever tree-crop and livestock-crop mixes that keep the soil healthy.
CA is environment-friendly and promotes farming in harmony with nature. With farming made easier and inputs per tonne of yields achieved easier, farming will attract youth and help meet the dream of sustained food security in Kenya. Additionally, farmers should join cooperative societies to increase their bargaining power and order inputs in bulk, thereby lowering their expenditures and increasing their chances of accessing markets at better prices.
Published on July 13, 2020 in The Standard.
