The County Government of Nakuru is prioritizing sustainable farming practices in its policies and budget to ensure food and nutrition security and build resilience against climate change shocks.
Deputy Governor Mr. David Kones said the devolved unit’s administration in collaboration with State agencies, local and international firms and research institutions were building capacity of both small-holder and large-scale farmers in practicing sustainable agriculture in the region towards improving crop yields, stimulating the economy and helping mitigate climate change.
Kones noted that agriculture was vulnerable to climate change, particularly in Kenya, where crops rely on regular, sufficient and predictable rainfall.
“Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns have created extreme weather conditions such as flash flooding, drought and locust invasions that have not only slashed crop yields, but fueled regional conflict over diminishing access to essential resources,” he said.
He warned that promotion of industrialized food systems at the expense of environmentally friendly agricultural production systems like agroecology was aggravating biodiversity loss, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions.
Speaking at his office during the launch of the Farming Systems Kenya (FSK) Strategic Plan -2024-2028, the Deputy Governor observed that agroecology, regenerative practices and indigenous knowledge were avenues that can lead to sustainable food systems and repair the relationship between people and nature.
Kones who was flanked by Baringo Governor Benjamin Cheboi indicated that sustainable agriculture was about increasing profitable farm income, protecting the environment, and enhancing quality of life for farming communities and increasing production for human food and fibre needs.
In line with growing population, experts indicate that global demand for food and changes in dietary habits has spurred additional pressure on agricultural activities, making them unsustainable.
Kones said that Governor Susan Kihika’s administration was promoting better practices such as efficient application of fertilizers and better manure management without causing any food shortage.
He affirmed that the solution to hunger, climate change and failing nutrition lies with the farmers and in the kinds of sustainable agricultural practices offered by agroecology, an approach he added rebuilds soils and crop diversity.
Cheboi listed some of the sustainable agricultural practices as development and use of drought and heat tolerant crop varieties, finding use for waste products from crops, training on the costs and benefits of crop insurance, reduction of post-harvest losses through support of agricultural machinery.
“Adoption of biological pesticides for green gram farmers, conservation of agriculture practices such as zero tillage and mulching, adoption of a warehouse receipting system and making use of waste material for biogas, are our priorities for now.
“For pastoralists, the practices entail shifts in herd composition from cattle to goats and/or camels, while in dairy farming it involves providing feed supplementation to increase productivity, providing of adequate water, improving collection systems to reduce spoilage and biogas systems to provide household energy and reduce emissions from manure,” he explained.
According to the governor, aquaculture entails the development of integrated systems that utilize waste from chickens in fish farming to reduce costs of fertilizer and feed and maximize profits and adopting finger-pond technology through digging ponds in wetlands that are naturally filled with water and stocked with natural fish when lake levels rise.
He indicated that the 2022-2026 Climate-Smart Agriculture Multi-Stakeholder Platform strategic plan (CSA-MSP) being spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture, aims to equip farmers with adaptation practices on climate action, geared to increase food production hence, reducing food prices.
And as one way of coping with climate change, the Governor urged Kenyans to embrace urban farming through establishment of kitchen gardens, while diversifying from maize into coffee, passion fruit, pyrethrum, macadamia, avocado, potato and vegetable farming.
Cheboi observed that a key, and often overlooked, component of sustainable farming is the adoption of technology and innovative dynamic capabilities that can enable farmers to reconfigure themselves to adapt to new climatic conditions, seize the opportunities that the new climatic conditions may betide and prevent environmental degradation.
“Progressively, more scientists, policy panels and experts are suggesting that sustainable agricultural practices can feed more poor people sooner as well as begin to repair the damage caused by industrial production and in the long term become the norm,” he stated
Dr. Kibore indicated that by practicing sustainable agriculture, small-scale farmers are enabled to farm in ways that are less costly and more productive adding that it benefits the country, because it slows global warming and ecological destruction.
By Anne Sabuni and Jane Wambui
