Climate-Smart agriculture and potato production in Kenya: review of the determinants of practice

ABSTRACT

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) presents the opportunity to meet the world’s increasing food demands in the face of climate variability. It is more responsive to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 13. CSA practices have the potential to alleviate low potato yields among farmers. Investigation of the determinants of practice of CSA would therefore go a long way in informing the efforts to adapt potato production to the effects of climate change. This study explored the determinants of practice of CSA documented by theoretical authorities and empirical studies. The study systematically investigated the need for CSA by reviewing the effect of climate change on potato production. Information from institutional websites and data from FAOSTAT were reviewed. Understanding the financial, natural, physical, and social capital required to execute the CSA technological practices is key to its adoption. Additionally, the mode of communicating the CSA practices determines its adoption, therefore, knowledge of such determinants and that of socioeconomic and institutional factors shapes CSA technological development and diffusion strategies. Understanding of these is essential to tailoring the CSA practices to the farmers’ most pressing needs and to the development of the practices that can easily be accessed and adopted by the farmers.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• climate smart agriculture
• potato production
• socio-economic factors
• institutional factors
• information dissemination pathways
• adoption

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledged the support provided by the MasterCard Foundation through Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM). The authors also acknowledged the input from the anonymous reviewers whose suggestions helped to improve this work

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Human capital refers to fruitful capabilities, conversance, and personal traits and preferences that render an individual extra prolific (García de Jalón et al., 2017; Pindyck & Rubinfeld, 2013). The considered deputies include the level of education, labour availability, and their influence on the practice of CSA.

2 Financial capital is a resource stock that expedites economic production (García de Jalón et al., 2017). The considered deputies include access to credit, off-farm income/ farmers’ income among others.

3 Physical capital refers to specified material assets attained using human prolific pursuits that are utilized to produce a stream of goods or services (García de Jalón et al., 2017). It denotes assets like farm inputs, infrastructure, or technology that augment crop production. The considered deputies include farm size and land ownership.

4 Social capital pictures social networks and comprises of credence, harmony, and interaction among individuals and groups (García de Jalón et al., 2017). The considered deputies include farmer's age, gender, receiving NGO support, access to training on CSA, farmer group's membership, access to CSA information through radio, television or Phone, neighbors/ friends, schools and extension officers.

5 Natural capital refers to a stock that renders ecosystem services of the natural environment that generates an estimable movement of goods and services into the future (García de Jalón et al., 2017). In regards to agriculture, natural capital is represented by climate and soil properties which predestine the appropriateness for agriculture.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrew Waaswa

Andrew Waaswa is an MCF@RUFORUM scholar and a TAGDev fellow pursuing a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Extension at Egerton University, Kenya. His broader aims are to gain insight into the causes of food and nutrition insecurity through research and identifying the context-specific solutions. His research interests include climate change and adaptation, natural resources management and environment, technology adoption and diffusion, gender and agricultural development, international agricultural development, agricultural extension systems and approaches, extension and training methods, participatory approaches to rural development, program planning, and implementation and monitoring and evaluation. [Notes: 1. MasterCard Foundation at Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture; 2. Transforming African Agricultural Universities to Meaningfully Contribute to Africa’s Growth & Development]

Agnes Oywaya Nkurumwa

Dr Agnes Oywaya Nkurumwa is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Education and Extension. She holds a Ph.D. and MSc degrees in Agricultural Extension and has over 20 years’ experience of teaching at University. She is experienced in research and has several publications in internationally refereed journals. Her research interests are broad and include; improvement of food security and livelihoods for small-scale farmers especially women, through agricultural extension; communication for innovation, adoption, and diffusion of agricultural technologies, and multi-stakeholder/ innovation platforms in agriculture. Dr. Nkurumwa is currently serving as Chairperson of the Department of Agricultural Education and Extension, Egerton University, Kenya.

Anthony Mwangi Kibe

Antony Mwangi Kibe is an Associate Professor of Agronomy and a specialist in nutrient and water management. He holds a PhD from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India. His research areas include pre-breeding work to the evaluation of growth and yield; Development of water-yield, nutrient-yield production functions models for yield prediction and agricultural value chains analyses. He has been an Associate Dean, faculty of agriculture, and Deputy Director of University Welfare Services at Egerton University, Kenya. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles in local and international journals and supervised several graduate students. He has been the principal investigator (PI) of various funded research projects & collaborations including the Kenya Climate Smart Agricultural Project (KCSAP – 2020-2021); Climate and Water Smart Agriculture Centre (CaWSA-C) at Egerton University. He is the PI of a Community Action Research Project (CARP+). He is a former visiting scholar at Louisiana State University, 2016 and 2018.

Joel Ngeno Kipkemoi

Dr Joel Kipkemoi Ngeno holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction. He is a senior lecturer in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Management, Egerton University, Kenya. He is a coordinator of the Teacher Education Department and also coordinates the Department of External Studies and Media. He teaches mathematics education, quantitative and qualitative research methods.