The government will continue investing in development of tailor-made research-based technologies that will provide tangible solutions in agricultural sector to enhance productivity and improve on food security in the country.
Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, fisheries and Cooperatives Ms Anne Nyaga said the government was subjecting various intervention technologies to research to ensure the government makes research-guided policies that are relevant and viable in the agricultural sector.
She said that the agricultural research-based innovations which are geared towards equipping farmers with climate smart technologies, will help counter the effects of climate change that she said has adversely affected the agricultural sector.
Nyaga who was speaking in Naivasha during the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP) scientific conference, said the research-based innovations and technologies will not only impact on agricultural productivity but also build institutional and technical capacities of the key implementing agencies to enable them deliver on their mandates.
She however regretted that the country’s agriculture which was predominantly rain-fed, was now under threat and vulnerable to effects of climate change which she added has resulted to declining agricultural productivity and loss of crops, livestock, fish and investments adding that there was need for farmers to adopt the climate-smart technologies in their farming practices to realize sustainable land and agricultural management.
While acknowledging that the Kenyan research fraternity had developed many climate smart agriculture technologies, innovations and management practices, the CAS challenged them to re-double their efforts and come up with new and better approaches that will help address emerging challenges emanating from the ever changing climate.
The CAS explained that through the KCSAP project that was now operational in 24 counties across the country, the government had been able to implement interventions to cushion farmers against the effects of the on-going drought including livestock off-take among livestock farmers, provision of drought-resistant seeds, and farmers’ trainings on relevant farming technologies and understanding climate changes to help them make informed decisions.
The conference dubbed ‘Climate smart research for sustainable agriculture and livelihoods’ attracted masters and PHDs research students, KARLO scientists, farmers and other agricultural field officers from the 24 counties where KCSAP program was being implemented.
By Esther Mwangi and Calvin Osiemo
