Abstract
Climate change poses great risks to poverty alleviation, food security and livelihoods sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa, declining crop yields and livestock productivity, especially in ASALs that suffer from fragile ecosystems characterized by frequent droughts and low rainfall. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) objectives of improving productivity and incomes, adaptation, resilience to climate change and mitigation on GHGs emissions, are responses to these climate risks. CSA technologies, innovation and management practices (TIMPs) in general do exist, however they are concentrated in crop farming neglecting livestock production and especially in marginalized areas such as ASALs, which forms 85% of Kenyan land mass and is dominated by pastoral and nomadic livestock production. Most CSA practices are mainly at the production level and hardly extend to the entire value chain, and diffusion is slow due to several barriers. A mixed method approach was used to evaluate barriers to actors’ adoption of CSA in the pastoral Livestock red meat value chain starting from input suppliers, producers, to consumers (pasture to plate). This study used six broad perspectives to examine the barriers: 1) Knowledge and institutional; 2) Market and financial; 3) Policy and incentives; 4) Networks and engagement platforms; 5) Cultural and social; 6) Physical infrastructure barriers. These barriers can be surmounted with concerted efforts from the government, development partners, pastoral communities, value chain actors and public private partnership among others. Efforts such as modernization of the pastoral red meat value chains, integration of MSMEs into the livestock systems, access to affordable financing, availability of context based, affordable CSA TIMPs, incentives, policies and institutional support, which currently remains inadequate. Institutional barriers like lack of capacity, coupled with knowledge and behavioral barriers hinder adoption. Financial institutions and cooperative societies can be enablers, however, their reluctance to invest in the sector is a barrier too.
Highlights
Climate change poses new challenges to the fight against poverty and sustainability of agrarian livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa through declining crop yields and livestock productivity caused by rainfall variability, rising temperatures, and increased pest/disease incidences (Grossi et al, 2019; Jordaan et al, 2014; Torquebiau et al, 2018)
The results presented in this study, provide an overview of the barriers that the livestock red meat value chain actors (MSMEs) experience in adoption of Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) TIMPs
Another 27% of the actors expressed that the lack of capacity building was a hindrance towards adoption of CSA technologies while 18% cited a lack of understanding on the difference between CSA, other sustainability practices and corporate social responsibility (CSR), these barriers are echoed by other studies (Gledhill & Herweijer, 2012; Smith et al, 2018; Abegunde et al, 2020)
Summary
Climate change poses new challenges to the fight against poverty and sustainability of agrarian livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa through declining crop yields and livestock productivity caused by rainfall variability, rising temperatures, and increased pest/disease incidences (Grossi et al, 2019; Jordaan et al, 2014; Torquebiau et al, 2018). Increasing climate variability and extremes, affecting both crop and livestock systems, are indicated as one of the causes leading to the recent rise in global hunger, malnutrition, and severe food crises (Atela et al, 2018). ASTGS acknowledges that Kenyan economy has made impressive progress in areas like innovation and entrepreneurship, private sector enterprise, infrastructure, public service delivery and human capabilities but agriculture continues to be the foundation of Kenyan economic development and creation of equitable and sustainable growth for Kenyan people. Improved agricultural productivity will create more jobs, increase food supply and lower food prices, making food accessible and affordable (World Bank, 2019)
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