2023 Seed Grant Award Problem Statements

Agriculture and Food Security

Problem #2: Climate-Smart Agriculture Solutions for Small-Holder Farming

Country/Region of execution:  Kenya

Collaborating Organization:  Aqua and Agriculture Initiative (AAI)

Aqua and Agriculture Initiative is a non-governmental organization focused on improving the well-being of people living in Kenya's arid and semi-arid (ASAL) regions through availing of safe and clean water. The organization's mission is to better the quality of life for locals of these areas by setting up projects to mitigate food insecurity and improve access to clean, safe, and sufficient water. In our quest to improve food security in these areas, our organization utilizes climate-resilient approaches capable of mitigating the scarcity of food caused by the adverse effects of climate change. Also, the organization is centered on boosting water harvesting solutions in these areas to increase available water for use. The organization's vision is to have a food-secure nation with access to clean, safe, and adequate water for everyone.

Problem Statement Description:  Climate change has exacerbated vulnerabilities in climate-sensitive productive agroecological arid and semi-arid landscapes (ASALs) around the world (Kogo et al., 2021). Kenya’s terrain is characterized as ASAL by more than 80% because of a low annual rainfall index (IUCN, 2022). Approximately 16 million people (30% of Kenya's total population) call these areas home and struggle to survive through subsistence small-scale farming despite the significant social and economic challenges. Droughts and floods are especially hard on ASALs, and if climate change continues to have an effect, these regions are increasingly running the risk of becoming even more food insecure, threatening lives and livelihoods. These climatic changes are lowering agricultural productivity and posing a threat to food security, water access, and livelihoods.

Makueni County is an ASAL region ravaged by climate change. Perennial droughts and intermittent floods hinder small-holder farming, causing crop failure, water scarcity, low agricultural production, health impacts, and malnutrition. This project aims to build climate resilience through climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in Makueni County. Climate change extremes have plunged small-scale farmers into food insecurity and socioeconomic decline. The project aims to improve smallholder farmers' climate action. Through the inculcation of CSA through training and the provision of incentives that necessitate scalable adaptation and mitigation responses.

Through the Aqua and Agriculture Initiative (AAI) as an organization and in consultation with the Kenyatta University School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, we have been taking some of the following steps to resolve this problem: -

  1. Enhanced rainwater harvesting with tanks and sand pans.

  2. Restoration of damaged boreholes.

  3. Pumping and piping of water to farmers' fields.

  4. Training on irrigation and people's utilization of water.

  5. Provision of climate-resilient seeds to farmers.

In response to the global 2030 agenda, this project will address four sustainable development goals. We strive to end hunger and promote food security that has been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic through climate-smart agriculture (SDG 2); enhance good health and well-being across all ages vulnerable to the climate crisis (SDG 3); support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water through harvesting, utilization, and management (SDG 6); and strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related risks in agriculture in the county (SDG 13).