NAKURU, Kenya (PAMACC News) - The Dutch government through the Netherland Development Organisation (SNV) has released 39 million Euros ($43 million) to support agripreneurs from East Africa who are keen on investing in climate smart agriculture value chains of pulses, oil seeds, potatoes and cereals.
The beneficiaries, according to Joseph Muhwanga, the Project Manager for the Climate Smart Agriculture-East Africa (CSA-EA) Programme at the SNV, will include smallholder farmers, farm input providers, small and medium business enterprises, agriculture service providers and cooperatives in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, who are keen on investing in the targeted value chains.
“10 million Euros ($11.2 million) has already been set aside and will be given directly to different business cases that meet the laid down criteria in the next five years,” said Muhwanga.
The main aim of the five year programme is to increase food production using climate smart agricultural solutions in the wake of changing climatic conditions.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organsation (FAO), the rising temperatures and increased frequency of extremely dry and wet years are expected to slow progress toward increased productivity of crop and livestock systems and improved food security, particularly.
In that regard, one study led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) points out that in order to place the impacts of climate change into context, there is need to look first at changes that affect demand for food and other agricultural commodities, and then at changes affecting supply.
According to Muhwanga, the SNV led programme seeks to support the entire value chain of pulses, oil seeds, potatoes and cereals using a climate smart approach.
“We’ll be seeking to directly support entrepreneurs who choose to venture in business ideas and strategies that are too risky for any financial institution to support, but meet the project expectations,” said Muhwanga.
Such business cases or ideas must demonstrate involvement of smallholder farmers, must be climate smart or environmentally sustainable, should be all inclusive in terms of women and youth, and must make economic sense to the business champion and other value chain actors. But most importantly, the ideas should be scalable or replicable.
“The maximum amount available for any given business idea is 200,000 Euros ($224,000) or 50 percent of the total business case cost,” Muhwanga said.
In Kenya, the project will focus on 12 counties that include Makueni, Kitui, TharakaNithi, Meru, Embu, Kirinyanga, Nyeri, Laikipia, Nyandarua , Nakuru, Bomet andNarok, while in Tanzania, the beneficiaries will be agripreneurs fromMbeya, Katavi, Njombe, Ruvuma,Songwe Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Dodoma, Singida, Tabora and Manyara.
So far, SNV has already started engaging farmers, and other agripreneurs to assess and interrogate current strategies that are in use, identify new and innovative strategies that could be implemented and or up-scaled in order to increase productivity and income and enhance resilience for various value chain actors working along the pulses, oil seeds, potatoes and cereals.
“We have already visited two counties in Kenya, where we assessed te existing strategies by farmers, devolved governments, entrepreneurs, agricultural service providers among other actors so as to understand the existing bottlenecks with an aim of finding long term solutions,” Muhwanga told the PAMACC News during an agripreneurs workshop in Nakuru, Kenya.
This comes after the three countries are still feeling the shock from the prolonged drought that extended beyond March and part of April, which in traditionally the rainy season period.
In general, recent studies have shown that the entire East African region has been experiencing rise in temperatures, unpredictable rainfall patterns, and an increasing number of extreme weather events such as floods and prolonged droughts in the past decades.
Experts have already pointed out that such changes in climatic conditions is already having far-reaching consequences not only for the agricultural sector, but also for the management of natural resources as well as the food security situation for the growing urban and rural population.
“Adoption of climate smart and ecologically sustainable production methods is now the only key to improving productivity of the existing food crop production and supply systems,” said Muhwanga.
The team is therefore working with research scientists for climate projections, so that actors can know what to expect in the near future as they plan for their business ideas.
According to Dr John Recha, a research scientist from Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has been on the increase since the industrial times, and this is what has led to global warming and climate change.
“Increased temperatures lead to changing rainfall patterns, and extreme events like prolonged droughts, and flooding,” said the researcher during a climate risk assessment workshop for potato growing counties held in Nakuru.
By the end of five years, the CSA –EA programme target is to have increase productive capacity and income for 300,000 farmers despite the changing climatic conditions, improved business performance for 50 small and medium entrepreneurs and 30 Cooperatives, and should have enhanced climate resilient sustainable food production practices on 600,000 hectares in the region.
The programme is therefore expected to conduct climate risk analysis of major food value chains and identification of business opportunities in climate smart agriculture, and it will help in business case development and matching grant funding to private sector, small and medium enterprises, and farmer Cooperatives.
It is also keen on investment leveraging through facilitating access to finance, influencing of policy and operationalisation of climate plans at both local and national government levels, and knowledge sharing among countries and networks.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - The Africa Forest Forum is set to launch eight training compendiums on various aspects of climate change in forestry to expand knowledge on the subject as it marks ten years of existence on May 22, 2019, in Nairobi, Kenya.
Since its establishment, the forum (AFF) has provided a bridge between science-based knowledge and good policies to support sustainable forest management, effectively working within a science-policy-management framework.
“We started this journey on December 06, 2007 when AFF was registered as a not-for-profit NGO in Nairobi Kenya, and with a grant from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency in 2008, which helped us, among other things, to set up a platform that could support African forestry stakeholders to discuss and mobilize resources for improved management and use of their forest and tree resources,” said Prof Godwin Kowero, Executive Secretary-CEO at AFF.
Since then, awareness has grown on the role of forests and trees in national economic development, livelihoods and environmental stability, with AFF steadily gaining membership and capacity to work on these and other related issues.
As one of the lead organization in the continent to promote sustainable forest management, the organization says it has delivered internationally renowned research in sustainable forestry and helped various member countries make their forest more productive, better for wildlife, and prepared for the challenges of a changing climate.
The institution says it has worked along with its partners, on several key fronts over the past ten years. Some of its successes include “promoting shifts in perceptions, priorities, values, capacities and skills to bear on subsequent impact on forestry and related decisions and practices. The interventions leading to this have included convening on specific issues, advocacy, partnerships and collaborative activities, knowledge brokerage, facilitating capacity and skills development, research and development activities.”
The goal accordingly has been to initiate a process through which local communities are seen and treated as critical stakeholders (participants and beneficiaries), while strategies for harnessing the potential of forest and tree resources to support livelihoods today, some of which employ these interventions, are given as much attention as the sustainable management and wise use of these resources for the benefit of future generations.
Statistics from AFF shows that Africa’s forest currently cover of 624 million hectares (23% of land area) representing natural capital that supports rural livelihoods, national economies, and has considerable potential in the global economy. The African forest ecosystems are also characterized by high biodiversity with rich endemic species.
It also shows that the annual value of trade in non-timber forest products is largely unknown since these products are traded informally; however, some estimates put it at over USD 500 million. Africa’s forests contribute 21% of total global carbon stock held in forests.
African forests support most rural livelihoods in the continent by providing income generating and employment opportunities.
“In many cases these forests support up to more than a third of the household incomes,” AFF says.
The forests in Africa are also important in regulating supplies of water since many river head waters are found in them. On steep slopes, river banks and even on flat terrain, they protect the soil from erosion. They are important sources of fodder for large populations of livestock and wildlife; in fact, most wildlife game parks and wild animal reserves in Africa are found in the forests and woodlands. They also provide the bulk of energy in the countries in which they are occur, in the form of fuelwood for domestic and rural industry uses, according to AFF.
The African continent according to CIFOR contains about 30 percent of the world’s global rainforests, second only to the Amazon. Scientists and conservationists have in the last decade benn multiplying discussions on the changes the forests are expected to undergo in the 21st Century.
Africa’s tropical forests face challenges from deforestation, hunting, logging and mining, as well as climate change.
“Climate change is a major issue for much of the world, but for Africa, in particular. And there’s much interest and concern around Africa’s forests, which is the second largest area of tropical forest in the world after the Amazon forest. And yet there’s been very little synthesis of the research that’s there. There’s much less known about both climate and forest and people and their interaction in Africa compared to many other regions of the world,” says professor
Yadvinder Malhi director of Oxford’s Center for Tropical Forests.
There’s been extensive deforestation in West and Central Africa with much of the land cleared for agriculture over the last 20 to 30 years, scientists say.
They are therefore raising their voices for the continuous protection of the remaining rainforests, better land management for agriculture and new research into the effects of climate change.
The African Forest Forum says it is effectively playing this role working with many stakeholders on these and other forestry related issues.
During the Nairobi event, the AFF will release a book titled, “The State of Forestry in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges will take place in Nairobi Kenya.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - The Africa Forest Forum is set to launch eight training compendiums on various aspects of climate change in forestry to expand knowledge on the subject as it marks ten years of existence on May 22, 2019, in Nairobi, Kenya.
Since its establishment, the forum (AFF) has provided a bridge between science-based knowledge and good policies to support sustainable forest management, effectively working within a science-policy-management framework.
“We started this journey on December 06, 2007 when AFF was registered as a not-for-profit NGO in Nairobi Kenya, and with a grant from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency in 2008, which helped us, among other things, to set up a platform that could support African forestry stakeholders to discuss and mobilize resources for improved management and use of their forest and tree resources,” said Prof Godwin Kowero, Executive Secretary-CEO at AFF.
Since then, awareness has grown on the role of forests and trees in national economic development, livelihoods and environmental stability, with AFF steadily gaining membership and capacity to work on these and other related issues.
As one of the lead organization in the continent to promote sustainable forest management, the organization says it has delivered internationally renowned research in sustainable forestry and helped various member countries make their forest more productive, better for wildlife, and prepared for the challenges of a changing climate.
The institution says it has worked along with its partners, on several key fronts over the past ten years. Some of its successes include “promoting shifts in perceptions, priorities, values, capacities and skills to bear on subsequent impact on forestry and related decisions and practices. The interventions leading to this have included convening on specific issues, advocacy, partnerships and collaborative activities, knowledge brokerage, facilitating capacity and skills development, research and development activities.”
The goal accordingly has been to initiate a process through which local communities are seen and treated as critical stakeholders (participants and beneficiaries), while strategies for harnessing the potential of forest and tree resources to support livelihoods today, some of which employ these interventions, are given as much attention as the sustainable management and wise use of these resources for the benefit of future generations.
Statistics from AFF shows that Africa’s forest currently cover of 624 million hectares (23% of land area) representing natural capital that supports rural livelihoods, national economies, and has considerable potential in the global economy. The African forest ecosystems are also characterized by high biodiversity with rich endemic species.
It also shows that the annual value of trade in non-timber forest products is largely unknown since these products are traded informally; however, some estimates put it at over USD 500 million. Africa’s forests contribute 21% of total global carbon stock held in forests.
African forests support most rural livelihoods in the continent by providing income generating and employment opportunities.
“In many cases these forests support up to more than a third of the household incomes,” AFF says.
The forests in Africa are also important in regulating supplies of water since many river head waters are found in them. On steep slopes, river banks and even on flat terrain, they protect the soil from erosion. They are important sources of fodder for large populations of livestock and wildlife; in fact, most wildlife game parks and wild animal reserves in Africa are found in the forests and woodlands. They also provide the bulk of energy in the countries in which they are occur, in the form of fuelwood for domestic and rural industry uses, according to AFF.
The African continent according to CIFOR contains about 30 percent of the world’s global rainforests, second only to the Amazon. Scientists and conservationists have in the last decade benn multiplying discussions on the changes the forests are expected to undergo in the 21st Century.
Africa’s tropical forests face challenges from deforestation, hunting, logging and mining, as well as climate change.
“Climate change is a major issue for much of the world, but for Africa, in particular. And there’s much interest and concern around Africa’s forests, which is the second largest area of tropical forest in the world after the Amazon forest. And yet there’s been very little synthesis of the research that’s there. There’s much less known about both climate and forest and people and their interaction in Africa compared to many other regions of the world,” says professor
Yadvinder Malhi director of Oxford’s Center for Tropical Forests.
There’s been extensive deforestation in West and Central Africa with much of the land cleared for agriculture over the last 20 to 30 years, scientists say.
They are therefore raising their voices for the continuous protection of the remaining rainforests, better land management for agriculture and new research into the effects of climate change.
The African Forest Forum says it is effectively playing this role working with many stakeholders on these and other forestry related issues.
During the Nairobi event, the AFF will release a book titled, “The State of Forestry in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges will take place in Nairobi Kenya.
LUANDA, Kenya (PAMACC News) - At 11 O’clock in Essong’olo village in the heart of Vihiga County, 400 kilometres west of Kenya’s capital Nairobi, Philemon Echoka sits under a mango tree to listen to his favorite weekly radio programme – ‘farming in the face of climate change.’
He increases the volume of his yellow coloured solar powered FM radio as Moses Ombogo, the broadcaster at Anyole Radio introduces his guest-Japheth Manga Amutete – in a local Luhya dialect called Olunyole. And on this particular morning, the subject of discussion is ‘aquaculture as a method of adapting to climate change.’
Anyole Radio, run by the Nganyi RANET Community Radio Station in Western Kenya is one of five community radio stations established by the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) in different parts of the country prone to different climate stresses to help locals understand the prevailing climate and weather patterns so as to develop resilience.
The Nganyi community members are renowned rainmakers in Vihiga County. Their traditional methods of weather forecasts have since attracted the attention of international researchers, who have concluded that blending traditional weather predictions with modern science may provide a more accurate forecast. It is based on this kind of knowledge that Anyole Radio was launched on March 23, 2015 to disseminate weather and climate information across the entire Vihiga County and to parts of the neighbouring counties that include Kakamega, Busia and Kisumu counties.
But before the discussion begins on this day on Ombogo’sprogramme, the announcer takes time to read out the weather forecast for the week, revealing that despite of it being late, the long rainfall season will delay even further, and that farmers must start using climate smart techniques to adapt to the changing climatic conditions.
“That is one of the reasons why we have Amutete in the studio today, to discuss how smallholder farmers can start up fish farming projects for extra income generation,” announces Ombogo using the Olunyole dialect.
“This programme has always been a blessing to me,” said Echoka, who ownsa two-acre piece of land in Vihiga and another of the same size in Nangili in Kakamega County, still in thewestern part of the country.
Generally, the community radio station was targeted to reach out to 250,000 members of the Abanyole community, but with its infiltration to neighbouring counties, it ends up serving tens of thousands more who can understand the local dialect. The dialect can be understood by nearly all Luhya speaking individuals.
Within the entire Luhya community Kakamega has 1,660,651 people, second to Nairobi with 3,138,369, Bungoma (1,374,477), Busia (743,946) and Vihiga (554,622) as per the country’s last round of census.
So far in his Kakamega farm, Echoka is taking advantage of the dry spell to make money as other farmers keep staring at the azure blue skies, praying for the heavens to open for the elusive rains to come down.
“From my savings, I bought a 6,000-litreportable water tank trailer, and for sure, having such equipment is the easiest way of making money at a time when everyone is complaining of the dry spell,” he said.
As people in Kakamega wait for the rains to come, others have been using Echoka’s portable water tank trailerto fetch water for irrigation especially for vegetable gardens, while others use the same to fetch water for construction among other uses, earning the farmer up to $100 (Sh10,000) per week.
“I charge betweento $30-40 (Sh3000 and Sh4000) per single supply depending on the distance from the river,” said Echoka.
This is one of the ideas that the farmer learned from Anyole radio a few years ago, during a discussion on how people can take advantage of the tough climatic conditions to generate income. “For me, the drought is a blessing in disguise. But when it starts raining, I will do what everyone does; plant crops,” said Echoka.
To others, especially the elderly people, the prevailing climatic conditions are something completely new to them. “I have never experienced what the country is going through today,” said Matthias Wanzala, 89 years from Mungakha village, Matungu in Kakamega . “Since I was a small boy, the month of April was always a month for rainfall,” he said.
On this day’s programme on Anyole Radio, Amutete is talking about fish farming, how to construct a good fish pond, the hygienic standards, how to make fish feeds from locally available resources, and how to keep predators away from the fish ponds.
But at the same time, he is faced with tough questions from listeners who are calling in, and they want to know if fish diseases exist, how to know that fish is sick, and how sick fish are treated.
On his farm in Ebulonga village in Vihiga County, the 56 year-old retired civil servant keeps 10,000 tilapia and catfishfingerlings in eight fish ponds that use water from a nearby water spring called Wamanga.
“I have already harvested five times and in the next two months, two of my ponds will be ready for harvesting,” said Amutete.
He now dreams of keeping the Nile Perch, a freshwater carnivorous fish species that grows very fast, and could be ideal for quick income generation. “I am still doing my feasibility study to see if Nile Perch can thrive on this farm,” he said.
Through trial and error and use of traditional knowledge, the retiredgovernment officer has perfected the aquaculture skill, and he has been sharing the knowledge through the community radioprogrammes.
“Whenever we are discussing such a topic, people call in and some of the callers happen to be experts in this particular field. So, I also get to learn a lot from them,” said the farmer during an interview next to his fish ponds in Ebulonga village.
At the Nganyi RANET Community Radio Station, the KMD has already built and equipped a resource centre together with a library, a climate information center, and a community computer centre, all with support from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an eight-country African trade bloc.
According to Dr Byron Anangwe of the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), having accurate weather forecast is extremely important, but it becomes meaningless if it is notavailed to the people who need it.
“Communities can only adapt to the prevailing climatic conditions only if they have access to real-time weather forecasting, long-term drought prediction tools, and advanced water monitoring systems among other useful hydromet services,” saidAnangwe.
According to Dr James Murombedzi, the Officer in Charge at the Africa Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) “Africa’s economies are dependent on climate change-related fields like agriculture and need relevant and timely climate information services that can be translated into decision-making tools to budget for climate disruptions,” he told PAMACC News during a Climate Information Services (CIS) workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Through the 2014 Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR) the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) underscores that rapid and uncertain changes in precipitation and temperature patterns in sub-Saharan Africa threaten food production and increase the vulnerability of smallholder farmers, which can result in food price shocks and increased rural poverty.
“Many times we have incurred losses due to delayed rainfall seasons, or sometimes when the rains come too early when we are not ready for planting,” said Esther Otinga from Ebusiratsi in Vihiga.
The mother of three school going children recalls the losses she incurred when she planted based on traditional knowledge in 2011. “Since I was a child, the long rain season always begun between the 23rd and 25th of March every year, and so on 25th that year, there were all signs of rainfall, and I planted maize on the entire four acre piece of land, and another two acre piece elsewhere in anticipation that it would rain any time,” she said.
But two weeks later, there was no rainfall. She ended up losing the seed, the fertilizer, and the money she had used to pay six casual labourers who had helped her in the exercise.
Since then, she has been a keen follower of weather forecasts and advisories through local and community media so as to make informed decisions on her farm.
“I thank God that several FM stations have emerged, and through them we get to learn about the prevailing weather and climatic conditions,” said Otinga.
