Increasing Community Resilience to Drought in Sakai

“Community based climate change adaptation”

Climate Change Adaptation Workshop

May 26, 2010IDRC, Ottawa, ON.

Dr. Maggie Opondo

• Climate change and variability impacts becoming more pronounced in Kenya

• The Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum (GHACOF) 23 predictions:

• Eastern parts = increased likelihood of below normal rainfall

• Western parts and southern parts = likely to become wetter in the future

Figure 1: Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook March to May 2009

Overview

Overview

• Coupled with multiple stresses and low adaptive capacities exacerbated by widespread poverty, weak institutions and complex disasters Kenya, like many other African countries, is particularly vulnerable to climate change

• The potential impact of climate change is threatening to undo decades of poverty reduction and development achievements

Overview

• Economic impact of climate change in Kenya => 1999/2000 La Nina-related drought cost Ksh 220 billion (approx. USD 3.2 billion) and every five or so years when Kenya experiences a drought it costs about 8% of GDP (Ksh 53 billion, approx. USD 0.8 billion) (World Bank, 2008)

• Therefore there is an urgent need to mainstream climate information into development programmes by accelerating and prioritizing adaptation to climate change into development policy

Overview

• As part of efforts to mainstream climate change adaptation into sustainable policy GEF initiated a regional project: “Integrating Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change into Sustainable Development Policy Planning and Implementation in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACCESA)”

• Through pilot projects in Kenya, Rwanda and Mozambique, ACCESA has worked with communities to promote the integration of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change into sustainable development plans and planning processes

• “Increasing Community Resilience to Drought in Sakai in Kenya” is one of the three pilot projects of ACCESA

Participating Institutions

• Implementation of field activities = The Centre for Science and Technology Innovations (CSTI) & Arid Lands Resource Management Project (ALRMP)

• Funding: Global Environment Facility and governments of the Netherlands and Norway supported by in-kind contributions from the governments of Germany, Kenya and Rwanda

• The project is led by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS)

Further information available at: http://www.iisd.org/climate/vulnerability/adaptation.asphttp://www.csti.or.ke

Implementation Team

• Sakai Community (Kisau Division, Mbooni East District)

• Prof. Shem Wandiga – project coordinator and chemist

• Dr. Maggie Opondo – asst. project coordinator and socio-economic expert

• Dr. Gilbert Ouma – climate scientist alias “rainmaker”

• Dr. Dan Olago – hydrologist

• Mr. James Oduor – ALRMP coordinator and agronomist

• Makueni District and Divisional ALRMP officials

The Project’s Conceptual Framework

Field Demonstration

Component:

- Integrated vulnerability

assessment

- Site selection

- Design and implement

intervention

- Training & capacity

building

POLICY

FIELDTESTING

Policy Component:

- Recommendations

for policy change

Up-scaling

Component:

- Use of tools for policy

integration

- Outreach and

engagement

Field Demonstration

Component:

- Collection of lessons

learned

Up-Scaling

Down-Scaling

Policy Component:

- Selection of

policy/policies to

influence

- Policy needs

assessment

Down-scaling

Component:

- Using policy needs

to design field test

Vulnerability to drought

• Kenya relies on rain-fed agriculture and other activities that are weather sensitive

• Increased incidences and intensity of droughts adversely affecting Kenyan agriculture and food security

• Prior to 1970s – both short and long rains reliable in Sakai but after 1980s only one planting season

Vulnerability to drought• Sakai’s vulnerability exacerbated by heavy reliance on drought sensitive crops

• Major manifestations and impact of CV and CC in Sakai:– Early onset and cessation of rainy seasons

– Frequents and prolonged droughts

– Frequent and more severe water shortages

• Response = Project: “Increasing Community Resilience to Drought in Sakai”

FACILITATEINTEGRATION

OF ADAPTATIONTO CLIMATE CHANGE INTO

KENYA’S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

PLANS & POLICIES

SAKAI PROJECT

REDUCE POVERTYTHROUGH

DIVERSIFICATIONOF

LIVELIHOODS

INCREASE FOOD SECURITY BYENHANCINGDROUGHT RESILIENCEOF LOCAL

AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES

AIMS

GOAL = CONTRIBUTE TO ACHIEVEMENT OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS BY:

PROVIDING PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF HOW A COMMUNITY CAN COPE WITH CLIMATE CHANGE-INDUCED DROUGHT

PROVIDING PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF HOW NATIONAL POLICY MAY BE MODIFIED BASED ON INPUTS FROM LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Linking Meteorological and Agricultural Information more effectively

Downscaling climate forecasts to guide choice of crops planted and the timing of agricultural activities

Linking Meteorological and Agricultural Information more effectively

• Provision of downscaled weather forecast in readily understandable language(s) – Kikamba, Kiswahili & English

• Development of skills in communicating weather information (onset & cessation) through training

• Farmers encouraged to enhance their resilience to unexpected weather events by:– cultivating a portion of their farm with crops suitable for the projected rainfall

– planting varieties that would grow if the rains were greater/less than expected

• Farmers’ Handbook on Sakai’s agro-ecological conditions

Improving Agronomic Practices

Improving agronomic practices by providing access to fast maturing and drought-resistant crop varieties

Improving Agronomic Practices

• In conjunction with KARI, MoA & community members, the project re-introduced seeds from traditional crops (gadam sorghum and pearl & finger millet) and drought-tolerant, open-pollinated varieties of maize

• Provision of training on: crop husbandry; pest control; seed bulking & storage; and post-harvest management

• Beginning with 40 farmers (65% of whom were women), household demonstration sites were established

• Through farmer-to-farmer learning, > 80% of the households in Sakai had adopted the GAPs promoted by the project in the second planting season in 2007

Enhancing Access to Water Building sand dams, shallow boreholes and drip irrigation systems to improve access to water for use in crop production

We can now plant and sell vegetables using the water from the sand dams” Onesmus Munyao

Enhancing Access to Water

• Reduction in the distance that women & children have to walk (ave. 4km) to fetch water during dry seasons

• Four sand dams built to improve access to water during dry seasons

• Introduction of small boreholes fitted with a hand/foot pump

• These have been linked to drip irrigation systems providing farms with water necessary for increased agricultural activity

Diversifying Livelihoods

Increasing local self-help groups’ access to income-diversification activities

Diversifying Livelihoods

• Introduction of a “merry-go-round” micro-credit scheme in conjunction with the District Social Services Dept.

• Five women’s self-help groups trained in accounting and climate proof business plan development

• Upon completion of these plans, each group was provided with funds to carry out new income generating activities (such as production of tree seedlings & high value vegetables)

Diversifying Livelihoods

• The project has also facilitated the construction of a biogas digester cooperative and construction of a biogas plant and bakery

• Under the direction of the cooperative, the biogas digester will be used to fuel the bakery – further helping to diversify incomes

• These groups are increasingly becoming self-empowered and are paying back their initial loans.

• This will help other self-help groups to participate in the micro-credit scheme

Diversifying Livelihoods

• Before the Sakai project, drought-tolerant sorghum and millet were not grown in substantial quantities

• Today the production of these crops has significantly increased in Sakai and neighbouring areas

• Farmers are now selling sorghum to East African Breweries as a cash crop

• Farmers have thus become less dependent upon the sale of crops (e.g. maize) that are less able to cope with drought

Policy Engagement• Participatory “bottom-up” approach responsive to institutional structures helping local people determine their own development

• 1 : ALRMP = agreed to work together and complement one another in areas of mutual interest

• 2 : Makueni District Steering Group = endorsement of project

• 3 : Local community engagement in problem identification and prioritization = community runs off with the project

Policy Up-scaling at the Local Level

• Establishment of demonstration sites

• Demonstration sites provided with quality seeds, weather info in agricultural planning and GAPs

• Farmer to farmer training outside of pilot project site (each farmer trained 2 neighbours)

• Through ALRMP – training on use of weather info in agricultural planning and GAPs conducted in other ASAL districts

• The communication of downscaled weather climate has been so successful the information is now provided toa all ASAL districts through the ALRMP

Policy Engagement• The project’s continual engagement with district- and national-level policy makers is also facilitating the integration of adaptation to climate change into sustainable development policies

• The CSTI & ALRMP implementation teams have worked to influence the content of Kenya’s draft National Disaster Management Policy and its revised policy on the sustainable development of arid and semi-arid lands

Lesson 1

• The recent drought in Kenya tested the measures introduced by the project and their potential usefulness in adapting to long term climatic changes

• It highlighted the need for the government to promote an integrated drought management system that links together:

Lesson 1 cont/d . . .

• The distribution of a diversified mix of locally appropriate, traditional seeds at the community level

• Improved water security

• Sand dams have proven to be effective water structures enabling drip irrigation systems)

• The diversification of livelihoods through promoting and using drought-tolerant crops, training in small-scale business management and providing micro-credit

Lesson 2

• Inter-disciplinary approach by bringing together national and district government officials, academia and enthusiastic community members, creating an environment for mutual learning and knowledge sharing

• The direct involvement of district and national government officials in the project has led to continual opportunity to identify and promote policy changes, creating the potential for significant up-scaling of benefits

Lesson 3

• By bringing together meteorologists, agricultural extension officers, seed and livestock specialists and farmers, the project has demonstrated a process for generating and delivering the information farmers need to make informed planting decisions that takes into consideration the uncertainty associated with rainfall projections

• Improving access to meteorological information at the local level and communicating this knowledge to farmers in a manner that is understandable to them helps farmers cope with increasingly unpredictable weather patterns

Lesson 4

• Critical to the success of the Sakai project has been the involvement of ALRMP and district level officers – demonstrating the critical role of agricultural extension services in preparing farmers for the impacts of climate change

• There is need to improve agricultural extension capacity and to raise the capacity of district officers to access sufficient information about climate change, its potential implications and actions they can take to reduce vulnerability in the agricultural sector

Policy Recommendations

1. Improve access to meteorological information at the local level in Kenya in order to help farmers cope with increasingly unpredictable weather conditions

2. Increase the availability of drought-tolerant seeds in other semi-arid districts and expand the emerging network in order to provide drought-tolerant seeds to more farmers

3. Improve agricultural extension capacity in Kenya and to raise the capacity of district level officers to access sufficient information about climate change, its potential implications and actions they can promote to reduce vulnerability in the agricultural sector

Conclusion

• Through its activities at the field & policy level, the Sakai pilot project has sought to enhance local agricultural production and reduce poverty through livelihood diversification

• Thus increasing the capacity of the community to adapt to the projected impacts of climate change

• By improving access to downscaled weather information, drought-tolerant seeds, water resources and micro-credit, the project is strengthening the coping capacity of community members particularly of women

• The impact of these benefits became real during the drought in 2009

• In particular the sand dams constructed have proved to be reliable sources of water

Conclusion

• Their success demonstrates the need for a significant up-scaling of construction of additional and more diversified water sources

• Through its policy engagement activities, the project is also helping to spread its benefits to a much wider population

• For instance, based on the projects experiences the Ministry of Ministry of State for Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands now requires all the of Kenya’s ASAL districts to receive downscaled weather forecasts as part of its drought early warning activities

• Such changes are helping to increase the capacity of smallholders across the ASALs in Kenya to adapt to drought now and in the future