Assessment of Effects of Climate-smart Agriculture Practices on Smallholder Farmers’ Resilience to Maize Yield Loss in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

Shocks and stresses that are caused by low maize yields cannot be avoided. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) mitigates against climate change by increase in crop and livestock yield and associated farm income. Efforts to address climate-related stress in agriculture recognize CSA as a promising approach. However, the effect of CSA on the resilience of farmers to maize yield loss due to climate variability is not well known. This study assessed the effect of two CSA practices (maize-legume intercropping and use of organic animal manure) on the resilience of maize farmers to maize yield loss due to climate variability in Bungoma County in western Kenya. A semi-structured questionnaire set up in open data kit (ODK) was administered to 250 randomly selected maize farmers. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to get a sample of 250 farmers. A CobbDouglas production function was used to examine how the two CSA practices affect the maize yield of smallholder farmers. While the overall model was statistically significant (p < 0.01), its explanatory power was weak (𝑅2=0.19) probably due to the maize produced per acre. A maize yield loss resilience index was generated using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). To estimate the smallholder maize farmers’ resilience to yield loss an ordinary least squares regression was employed with the resilience index as a dependent variable. The overall model was statistically significant at p < 0.01 and 𝑅2=0.74. Both CSA practices (maize-legume intercropping and use of organic animal manure) were statistically significant at p < 0.01 in the OLS model suggesting that use of the two practices assured farmers of getting a higher yield and the farmer becomes resilient to maize yield loss. Accordingly, the study recommends that awareness and capacity building of farmers who are not currently using the two CSA practices in their maize production should be enhanced. This could be achieved through extension services on the two CSA practices to smallholder farmers by the ministry of agriculture and private agriculture stakeholders.