Agroecology Framework to Empower Smallholder Farmers: Improving Kenya Tushar Narula

Agroecology Adaptation Based Framework to Empower Rural Based Farmers For Climate Change:

AUTHOR: Tushar Narula

Improving Kenya

ABSTRACT: Climate change has created rifts in the formal ways of farming in Kenya. The different methods used have less focus on the development of land sustainability and biodiversity. The recent push towards infrastructural development has threatened the farmed lands. We intend to cultivate biodiversity for degradation mitigation, climate change adaptation and enhanced resiliency to climate change stressors. The aim of the project is to empower rural-based smallholder farmers for degradation mitigation, climate change adaptation and resiliency through the utilization of different agroecology principles. Processes such as Agro-Ecosystem Design including habitat management and plant diversification are steps that push towards the right growth of the land in the changing climate. The framework created intends to tackle the issues of sustainability and longevity with an economic perspective. It intends to secure the future of the farmers, their land and their produce. The framework consists of six crucial actions that can be adhered to and carried out in the form of a project. It would consist of the creation of model agroecology farms, formal training of trainers (TOTs) programs, development of farmer outreach programs, design of biodiversity action plans, choice of community crop insurance scheme and project monitoring/evaluation. By adhering to the framework, the farmer would increase their readiness against climate change and improve upon the biodiversity outcomes in the ecosystem. These actions are also supplemented by a formulated cost structure, focus sites and impact assessment. Such actions would provide further structure to the framework and allow it to have a measured and strong impact on the less developed areas. This research focuses on Kenya as the test bed for the framework and implementations for initiation. This paper will systematically guide the reader through the importance of agroecology, its use in the framework and further elaborate on the different components that go into the framework. The paper guides through the development pathways specific to Kenya with regards to the current practices and highlights the benefits of adapting to the framework as it envisions a secure and sustainable future for farmers and agriculture.

INTRODUCTION

Causation of Degradation of Ecosystem and Impacts of Climate Change Degradation of natural ecosystems has been identified as the main barrier to attainment of sustainable development. The ever-continuing degradation of agricultural and landscape ecosystems exacerbates the consequences of climate change. It is also responsible for reducedecosystem services (“Global Drylands Initiative”).

Climate change is expected to adversely affect agricultural production in Africa. A range of climate models suggest median temperature increases between 3 and 4 °C in Africa by the end of the 21st Century, roughly 1.5 times the global mean response. This will likely result in significant yield losses of key staple crops, such as maize, sorghum, millet, groundnut, and cassava, of between 8 and 22 percent by 2050 unless key investments are made to improve agricultural productivity under climate risk [2]. Adaptation to climate change at the farm level includes many possible responses, such as changes in crop management practices (for example choice of fields, planting dates, planting densities, crop varieties), livestock management practices (for example: livestock choice, feeding and animal health practices, transhumance timing and destinations), land use and land management.

In particular, degradation of ecosystems reduces ecosystem function on agricultural farms (above and below ground), leading to poor soil health and fertility loss. This in turn increases vulnerability to climate change impacts and reduces adaptive capacity of farmers who depend on farming as a source of livelihood. The resulting consequences are lack of enough food, water scarcity, poor human health and conflicts. Adaptation can greatly reduce vulnerability to climate change by making rural communities better able to adjust to climate change and variability, moderate potential damages, and cope with adverse consequences (McCarthy et al.).

es, advanced stages of soil erosion, such as rill and gully erosions, can devastate entire areas, turning them unusable for agricultural purposes (Maeda et al.).

The main observations of the International Livestock Research Institute and International Food Policy Research Institute indicate the increased impacts of climate change would include various changes in Kenya. It would experience wide losses of many key staples, reduction in crop productions and food accessibility (Herrero et al.). This would have a negative impact on the livelihoods of many small-scale farmers that depend on this accessibility and natural resources.

Agroecological principles and practices closely link to the agroecosystem design and divide biodiversity into two different parts, one being “Below the ground” and another being “Above the Ground.” They together come to determine and contribute to the crops’ health and the agroecosystem’s health.

Given the importance of smallholder farming, there is serious need to build resilience of farms and landscapes. This can be achieved by addressing degradation of natural ecosystems on both farms and landscapes. The ultimate beneficiaries are the environment (restoration of ecosystems) and humanity (food security and livability).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

It is estimated that there are about 475 million agricultural farms of less than two hectares around the world. These farms, cultivated by smallholder farmers, account for about 12% of agricultural land globally and produce 80% of all the food consumed globally. Indeed, smallholder farming is gradually becoming untenable. Smallholder farmers who are currently living on the margins of productivity could be pushed over the edge (Cropscience). It is, therefore, not surprising that degradation of both agricultural farms and landscapes impact on the wellbeing of 3.2 billion people globally (Lewis et al.).

The chosen site of Kenya is adversely affected by climatic variability and change because of the dependency on rain-fed agriculture. With variability in rainfall and temperature directly affecting crop and livestock yields, millions of smallholder farmers in the sub Saharan region are impacted drastically by climate change and are not aware of the tools to tackle the risk and showcase a deeply resilient path for the future (Ochieng et al.). 1.

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3. Stop degradation of natural ecosystems that the survival of humanity and general life forms depend on. Bring back biodiversity and build resilience capacity of agricultural farms and landscapes for enhanced food production and climate change adaptation/mitigation. Promote agroecology as a natural, cost-effective and sustainable farming system locally and globally especially amongst smallholder farmers.

Choosing Agroecology Agroecology has its root in ecology—the understanding of natural ecosystems. Therefore, agroecology is a science that borrows from social, biological and agricultural sciences. It integrates the three science disciplines with both traditional and farmers’ knowledge (“What Is Agroecology?”).

At the heart of agroecology is the fact that a healthy agroecosystem should mimic the functioning of local ecosystems in order to enhance biodiversity, build complex beneficial structures and enhance nutrient recycling.

Agroecology is a farming system that has people and environment at its heart. Agroecological farming practices support food sovereignty by enabling farmers to boost and diversify their production, stabilize yields, decrease dependency on expensive and often hardto-access farm inputs. The resultant benefits include agrobiodiversity, improved landscape stewardship, low environmental impact and climate adaptation/resilience.

Proposed Actions of the Framework In order to realize the indicated objectives, this proposal proposes six critical actions: Establishment of a model agroecology farm, training of trainers (TOTs), development of farmer outreach programs, design of biodiversity action plans, choice of community crop insurance scheme and project monitoring/evaluation. Kenya is used as the example and the initial test bed for the framework as the situation curbs around the area.

1. Establishment of a Model Agroecology Farm

The establishment of a model agroecology farm is important in motivating, attracting and encouraging smallholder famers to embrace agroecology.

In addition, to display how agroecology can positively transform farms and landscapes, the model farm will also be used to train smallholder farmers on agroecology principles and practices. In addi-

tion to educating farmers on practicality of agroecology, the farms will also earn revenue from the sale of farm produce. This is the revenue that will be utilized in sustaining the project particularly in replicating agroecology to other ecological zones in Kenya. The model agroecology farms will be established on agricultural land donated to the project by County governments. Target country governments have been consulted and the response is overwhelming.

2. Training of Trainers (TOT)

Training of trainers (TOTs) aims at recruiting and training qualified and competent personnel to work as agroecology extension officers (advisors) in rural areas. The advisors are to work closely with rural-based smallholder farmers at the village level in implementing agroecology principles and practices on their farms. It is important to point out that the necessary training materials are already available. A good number of organizations including Resource Efficient Agricultural

Production of Canada [10] have developed relevant agroecology training materials that can easily be accessed.

3. Development of Outreach Programs

The development of outreach outreach programs is critical for successful implementation of the proposed project. There is no uniform formula for implementing agroecology practices as it depends on ecological zone, culture and local tradition. The development of any outreach program must consider the existing habitat including flora and fauna within the implementation area. The outreach programs should analyze the ecological zone and specifically be customized. Outreach programs are to be developed only after visits and overview of targeted farms and/or landscapes.

The project outreach programs developed will not only be for reaching out to farmers to promote agroecology. Educating and empowering the farmers will be the ultimate objective of the programs.

4. Design of Biodiversity Action Plans (BAP)

This is the strategic framework and road map for the implementation of agroecology practices aimed at improving biodiversity on targeted farms and/or landscapes.

The design of the biodiversity action plan is specific to the ecological zone and is divided into a two-step structure for maximum implementation and area enhancement. The first step for the officer is to consider existing approaches to faming or landscape use. Through the assessment of existing approaches with regard to local situations, the second step is to analyze the specifications of the existing flora and fauna and find out their diets and breeding methods. It is from these assessment findings that agroecology extension officers are able to identify and implement the most appropriate agroecology practices to increase biodiversity.

5. Choice of Community Crop Insurance Scheme

Crop insurance has of late become very important in the wake of climate change. Unlike in the past when crop insurance policies only targeted agricul tural companies, insurance companies in Kenya have now come to appreciate the importance of smallholder farmers. The rise in community insurance schemes is due to the large uncatered smallholder farmer market. Solutions such as tailored operations and crop choice availability tread a path towards profit and development.

6. Project Monitoring and Evaluation

Like with any other project, the proposed project will be monitored and evaluated to identify and address any shortcomings and successes. The monitoring and evaluation process will be continuous and will cover all aspects of the project.

The monitoring and evaluation of the project will be critical particularly during the launching phase. It will inform shortcomings that will be addressed during the scale-up and replication of the project in other ecological zones.

Continued degradation of agricultural farm and landscape ecosystems, if not addressed, are bound to cause serious food shortages and natural hazards in the future. There is serious need for urgent measures to be taken to address degradation that destroys ecosystems thus reducing resiliency. Implementation of agroecology on both farms and landscapes as a nature-based solution is a sure way of turning things around.

Players Smallholder Farmers:

Smallholder farmers are at the center of this project. Like other smallholder farmers in other parts of the world, smallholder farmers in Kenya are hard-hit by the impacts of climate change.

The farmers are always in search of and on the lookout for measures that they can employ on their farms to increase farm productivity.

County Governments:

Agriculture is a devolved function in Kenya. The development and implementation of agricultural policies and programs is the sole responsibility of county governments. The sale and provision of fertilizer and subsidized seeds is also the responsibility of county governments. Most importantly, targeted county governments (Machakos and

Makueni) have already been consulted for allocation of agricultural land for the establishment of model agroecology farms with positive response and support.

Cooperatives:

Kenya has a well-developed cooperative movement. A majority of the cooperative societies have structures down to local towns that are easily accessible by smallholder farmers. The cooperative societies provide their members with several services including savings accounts and micro-loans among other services.

Insurance Companies:

Crop insurance is well developed in Kenya. Indeed, crop insurance policies targeting both agricultural companies and smallholder farmers are already in place. However, the uptake of crop insurance by smallholder farmers remains very low. This is mainly because smallholder farmers have not been well-informed on the benefit of acquiring crop insurance.

Research Institutions:

Research institutions and in particular Kenya Forestry Service and Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization have already been engaged on the possibility of seconding their researchers to the project to train project agroecology extension officers who will in turn be responsible for training farmers.

Location This project is specially designed for rural and peri-urban areas. Therefore, the proposed actions will be implemented on agricultural farms and landscapes in both rural and peri-urban ar

areas. Therefore, the proposed actions will be implemented on agricultural farms and landscapes in both rural and peri-urban areas.

Rural-based smallholder farmers feed city residents. They produce a significant percentage of food stuff sold and consumed in cities. Smallholder farmers are, therefore, better placed to implement agroecology practices to stop degradation of natural ecosystems, restore lost biodiversity and revamp ecosystem services.

The proposed actions will initially be undertaken in Kenya, where there are approximately 6 million smallholder farmers (producers and pastoralists). The project will then scale up its activities to cover neighboring countries including Uganda and Tanzania.

However, agroecology action plans will at the beginning target one ecological (semi-arid) region with at least 700,000 smallholder farmers. The proposed actions will then be scaled gradually to cover the whole country (“Adaptation”).

ESTIMATED IMPACTS

Impact on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and/or Climate Change Adaptation Various methods such as efficient irrigation management and livestock methane emission reduction act as solutions to combat climate change in farming but agroecology remains a cost-effective and simple yet effective nature-based solution to degradation of natural ecosystems. It is the most effective way of reclaiming lost biodiversity and improving ecosystem services. The farming practices, large smallholder farmer population dependency and structures of low-income countries make agroecology a sustainable and understandable way to provide the tools to combat climate change in the future. Agroecology has the positive impact of increasing ecosystem function, leading to reduced vulnerability to climate change stressors and natural hazards.

The 5th Assessment Report of the IPPC (2014) provides adequate evidence of increasing changes in climate. The report predicts widespread impacts on food security, water availability, livelihoods and human health particularly on African continent. This is mainly because many in Africa depend on such primary sectors as agriculture. Like other smallholder farmers on the African continent, smallholder farmers in Kenya now have to contend with irregular rainfall patterns, long periods of drought and emergence of crop pests/diseases hitherto unknown on a yearly basis. Natural hazards are now very frequent and generally more pronounced (Pachauri and Meyer).

By taking up and implementing agroecology on their farms and landscapes, the famers will be able to restore biodiversity on their farms (above and below the ground) and landscapes with positive results; increased production thus increased earnings, minimization of crop losses because of reduced natural hazards and maintenance of optimum micro-climate due to restoration of healthy ecosystems.

Agroecology also has agroforestry as one of its practices. Assuming that each of the 1,000 farmers will plant at least 20 carefully chosen indigenous trees on their farm and landscape, the 1,000 farmers will help in the sequestration of at least 354,000 lbs of carbon. This is according to calculations by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA (“Greenhouse Gases Equivalencies Calculator”).

Benefits Agroecology provides for enhanced economic, environmental and societal benefits:

Economic benefits – Cultivation/commercialization of traditional foods coupled with increased food production. These lead to marketing and trade opportunities for increased farm income. Environmental benefits – Diversified land use leading to increased biodiversity, water availability, healthy soils and improvement of micro-climate. Social benefits – Gender/social inclusion, food security, improved human health and recognition of tradition/culture as a key element of sustainability.

Kenya has developed and finalized its National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NAP, 2015-2030). The plan consolidates the country’s vision on climate change adaptation with the support of macro-level adaptation actions relating to different economic sectors and vulnerabilities. This is to enhance longterm climate change resiliency and adaptive capacity (Adaptations) (Besseau et al.). The take up and implementation of agroecology practices particularly in rural areas by smallholder farmers will, therefore, complement the nation’s goal of climate change resiliency and adaptive capacity.

Timeline and Impacts The launch and implementation of this project depends on availability of funds. The project author is very optimistic about success of the project considering that smallholder farmers in Kenya are very receptive to new farming methods that enhance their productivity. and semi-arid zones. The project will initially focus on one ecological zone (semi-arid) during the launch period. It is anticipated that the project will have covered all the country’s ecological zones within 15 years of launching to serve at least 6 million smallholder farmers including pastoralists.

Short-term Impacts:

Access to community crop insurance by 1,000 smallholder farmers within the first year of project launch.

Acquisition of knowledge and skills by 1,000 smallholder farmers about agroecology within the first year of project launch.

Increased biodiversity on farms and landscape after three years of project launch.

Increased biodiversity and improvement on micro-climate in the project launch zone.

Mitigation of degradation on at least 2,000 acres of agricultural farms and at least 1,000 acres of landscape.

Restoration of ecosystem services in the project launch ecological zone after 3 years of project launch.

Medium-term Impact

Access to community crop insurance by at least 300,000 smallholder farmers in four different ecological zones within a period of 15 years of project launch.

Acquisition of knowledge and skills by at least 300,000 smallholder farmers about agroecology within 15 years of project launch.

Enhanced biodiversity on farms and landscape.

Increased biodiversity and improvement on micro-climate in four ecological zones.

Mitigation of degradation on at least 600,000 acres of agricultural farms and at least 300,000 acres of landscape.

Long-term Impact

Access to community crop insurance by at least 3 million smallholder farmers in all the country’s eight (8) different ecological zones including arid and semi-arid zones.

Acquisition of knowledge and skills by at least 3 million smallholder farmers about agroecology.

Enhancement of biodiversity nationally on both agricultural farms and landscape.

Increased biodiversity nationally and improvement of national micro-climate.

Mitigation of degradation nationally on both agricultural farms and landscape.

Enhancement of ecosystem services nationally(Koohafkan).

The launch and implementation of this project is projected to cost US$9400. The project will hence be able to finance its scale-up and expansion programs through revenue generated from its model agroecology farms. The project will be self-sustaining after six (6) months of launching.

The estimated costs of different materials used is included from item to item such as the ToT’s, 1000 Farmers training as the project is launched, the development of farmer training material, the development of BAPs, the establishment of the Model Agroecology Farm, project staff, transportation, and project monitoring and evaluation. The project’s costs are included for six months (Figure 2).

CONCLUSION

The framework, after analyzing the basic concepts and the sustainable outcomes, looks at the successful implementation in the targeted ecological zones of Kenya. The successful compliance of the different players in the framework would be key to the implementation. The timeline assigned should be flexible and taken into consideration as the seasonal changes may affect it. The proposed framework looks at sustainability as the key to the protection of farmers and their land during the coming challenges that climate change might propose. Resiliency is the best step to counter the problem and the successful implementation of this Framework serves to elevate the standard of resiliency.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Tom Gard is a practicing fish and organic farmer in one of Kenya’s semi-arid regions. He is experienced in organic farming and community mobilization and training of smallholder farmers. The author received entrepreneurship training and funding by the Tony Elumelu Foundation. This is in addition to another round of entrepreneurship training provided by SEED. The author has also received business capacity building training by Bridges for Enterprise, a society at the University of Cambridge and he is an alumnus.

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