Indigenous and Local Knowledge Practices and Innovations for Enhancing Food Security Under Climate Change: Examples from Mijikenda Communities in Coastal Kenya

Abstract

Climate change adversely affects agricultural production in many countries of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) such as Kenya. This can have important ramifications for local livelihoods and food insecurity and has often been linked to the erosion and loss of Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK). For instance, changes in agrobiodiversity management due to the dominance of modern agricultural practices based on a few commercial crop varieties can have important implications for food security, especially in areas that are severely affected by climate change. Many communities throughout SSA depend on (and are custodians of) such ILK practices, which are maintained through various traditional resource management systems regulated by traditional institutions, customary laws and cultural values. This chapter identifies and documents ILK practices and innovations that can enhance agricultural productivity and food security in the face of climate change in coastal Kenya. We focus on the five Mijikenda communities of Digo, Giriama, Duruma, Rabai and Chonyi. Household surveys, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to elicit the local livelihoods, as well as the prevailing patterns of climate variability, food security and ILK practices (including agrobiodiversity conservation). The study reveals that the five local communities widely use farming-related ILK practices and innovations to improve crop productivity and ensure food security in the face of climate change. Some of the most common practices include crop diversification, early planting, adoption of drought-tolerant and fast-growing local varieties, crop rotation, conservation tillage, domestication of wild food and medicinal plants and use of bio-pesticides. Despite some evidence of ILK erosion, the local communities mobilize effectively their cultural values and customary resource management and governance systems to preserve and use such ILK practices. There is an urgent need to integrate such ILK practices and innovations into relevant policies and climate change adaptation strategies at the local, national and international levels, as a means of enhancing livelihoods, food security and agrobiodiversity conservation.