Policy options for building resilience of crop production under climate change

Timely interventions and support to farmers are urgently required to mitigate these events. Given the national economic, food security, nutritional and health importance of crop production, there is an opportunity for national policies on agriculture and climate change to support a more robust and resilient future for Kenya’s food production

Strengthening education, extension and training to accelerate climate resilience and low carbon development in the agriculture sector

The dynamic nature of climate and its impacts on agriculture is rendering most of the existing adaptation and coping strategies unsupportive in many regions. Recent studies on economic sectors (including agriculture) across institutions and 24 counties have established the following: a widened gap between skills possessed by youth and those required by the job market; inadequate technical skills and knowledge on climate change and climate-smart technologies by the extension service providers; climate change has not been adequately integrated into Kenya’s formal agricultural education, extension and training systems such as the Kenya School of Agriculture (KSA), Agricultural Technology Development Centres (ATDCs), Agricultural Training Centres (ATCs) and Agriculture Technical Vocational Education and Training (ATVET); the existing policies and strategies for capacity building for the agriculture sector have limited provisions for promoting climate resilient and low carbon development solutions. These calls for integration of climate change into the formal education, extension and training systems; equipping the training institutions to facilitate adoption of climate-smart innovations; capacity building of the extension service providers to enhance utilization and adaptation of the appropriate support agricultural technologies, innovations and climate-smart farming practices

Policy actions for building resilience of fisheries development in a changing climate

The fisheries sub-sector in Kenya plays an important role in the national economy. It is an important source of food, nutritional security, employment and foreign exchange. The fisheries and aquaculture sector in Kenya contributes about 0.8% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). It is estimated that the sector employs 500,000 people directly, and supports about two million people indirectly, working as fishers, traders, processors, suppliers and merchants of fishing accessories and their dependents

Policy actions for building resilience of livestock production under climate change

Livestock production is a major agricultural activity in Kenya, with the livestock sector contributing 30-40% of agricultural GDP and about 12% to the national GDP. The livestock sub-sector further accounts for 30% of total marketed agricultural products and employs 50% of the total agriculture labour force. Cattle and small ruminants are of high importance in Kenya both in terms of human diets and livelihoods, while poultry is growing in importance. It is estimated that more than one third of Kenyan households keep at least one head of cattle and two-thirds keep at least one chicken

Crop nutrient application rates

This guide provides information on how to match nutrient rate to crop needs by varying application rates and timing between blocks, guided by soil tests, crop class, cane variety, soil type, block history, soil conditioners and yield expectations

Australian bat lyssavirus information for veterinarians

This information is specifically intended to assist veterinarians in the safe management of incidents involving contact between domestic animals (cats or dogs) and bats with the resulting potential for these animals to acquire Australian Bat Lyssavirus infection (ABLV)