Increasing Food Production Resilience Through Eco-based Farming Practices Under Changing Climate in Tharaka-nithi County, Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya, the highest proportion of people gets their income and food from rain fed agriculture. Tharaka Nithi County is not an exception with particularly low annual rainfall. The research was done in Tharaka Nithi County and specifically in Tharaka South Sub County and Tharaka North Sub County. The two Sub Counties have a population of 158,023 people. This is about 65% of population in Tharaka Nithi County. The area of the targeted Sub Counties is 1,569 square kilometres (Km2) and is subjected to an increasing number of people in need of food aid due to minimal on farm production. The study‟s main objective was to assess the resilience of food production through eco based methods of farming which would be suitable to the changing climate. The specific objectives were to examine historical climatic data and the effect it had on food security on the households, analysing and assessing the status of food security and what determined it, assess conservation agriculture practices to buffer the effects of climatic change and build resilience. Low rainfall and above normal temperatures have considerably affected food security through reduction in food production in Tharaka Nithi County. Climate change is real and households must have adaptation remedies that can be used to achieve household food security. Some remedies have been suggested including reduction in amount of food consumed and adaptation of modern farming method such as the use of eco-based farming methods. This study was initiated because food security status in Tharaka Nithi County has not been examined besides any indicated study on the impact of climate change on livelihood based on a trans-disciplinary approach. A descriptive research design methodology was used. It involved using a 30 year historic data that covered 3 non-overlapping climatic periods made up of 10 years that is, 1982 - 1991, 1992 – 2001 and 2002 - 2012. Farmers who had at least 30 years of experience in farming were targeted using a survey questionnaire. This was administered in sentinel. The male respondents formed the highest percentage with 58% while female respondents formed 42%. The study found that only 11% of the respondents utilized some form of irrigation while the remaining 89% used rain-fed methods together with livestock rearing. An experimental design was also carried out to vi compare conventional farming and conservational farming methods; this was done in personal farms which produced sorghum, green grams and cowpeas over a period of four seasons. Gaussian Kernel analysis, moments, regression and non-parametric approach based on Mann Kendall were used to justify changes in the both mean monthly temperature and rainfall. Food security was determined through multivariate analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS); which was used to discover net effects of the variables. Themes and frequencies were also used. Duncan‟s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) was used together with themes for the final objective. Duncan‟s Multiple Range Test was used because is best suited for comparing possible pairs of experimental means. It was established using data from Kenya Meteorology that annual temperature in Tharaka had increased approximately by 0.4C per decade during 1981-1990 period, increased by 0.3C per decade for the period 1991- 2000 and 0.25C per decade for the period 2001 - 2010. For the 30 years that were studied in Tharaka Nithi it was established that the average rainfall per season was between 100 mm to 1250 mm. In the first period of the study (1982-1991) the average rainfall ranged from 100 mm to 1250 mm, the second period comprising of years 1992-2001 the range was between 150 mm and 1150 mm while the final period of the study the range was between 100 mm and 1100mm. This confirmed climate change had occurred. The study analysed household food security status and what determined it. The results showed that households having heads with secondary level of education were more food secure. Further to this households with lesser number of family members were also food secure. The size of the household and food security had a negative relationship. The results showed that conservation agriculture practices yields from the demo plots ranged between 2.0 tonnes and 2.3 tonnes per hectare which therefore meant that the conventional methods yielded 1 tonne less per hectare compared to conservational agriculture. Agricultural practices are altered by erratic rainfall patterns. This in turn affects the socioeconomic importance and even ground water resources and hydrological sector. From the study the probability of a household being food secure increased with increase with the level of

formal education for the household head and also with the number of people contributing to labour increasing. The size of land and food security had a positive relationship, it was also noted that a small scale farmer would produce more and even surplus through using conservation agriculture. The study therefore recommended that small holder farmers should be assisted to establish conservation agriculture, which would in turn meet their demands and would be relevant to their situation. It was established that the approach of conservational agriculture possibly will help peasant farmers increase productivity by one tonne more per hectare and also steady outputs in marginal lands in punishing climatic conditions, poverty and drought and where there is limited labour occasioned by old age, migration and ill health. Conservation agriculture investment is seen as an apt methodology of supporting food security in the same agro-ecological regions. The level of producing crops reached through farming under conservation agriculture had surpassed conventional farming levels in every season since the beginning of the study. Therefore, conservation agriculture provide insurance against punishing climatic deviations. The study also recommended the use of the analysed climate information, seasonal calendar for agricultural development and general socio-economic improvement by developing strategies for adaptation to climate change.