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Table 4-3 – Agriculture and Livestock Action Plan
Table 4-3 – Agriculture and Livestock Action Plan
Economic ambitions
› Developing upstream capacity of farmers › Increased sector resilience to climate change and rainfall variability › Inclusion of SIGs, particularly youth, women and PWD
Source: Atkins analysis
Actions
4.2.1 Anchor project: Climate Smart Aggregation Centres 4.2.1.1. Aggregation and Services Approach 4.2.1.2. Location and Links
4.2.1.3. Development Phasing & Infrastructure 4.2.1.4. Climate Smart Support Services A1: Improve access to inclusive finance and insurance A2: Create practical and business training programmes for farmers A3: Introduce technology and extension services to improve resilience and productivity A4: Provide accessible and tailored climate information
4.2.1.5. Supporting Mechanisms and Capacity-building Interventions A5: Organise farmers into cooperatives to share resources and maximise benefits from the Climate Smart Aggregation and Service Centres A6: Establish reliable water sources for farmers and pastoralists 4.2.2 Climate resilient infrastructure projects Project 1: Aggregation Accessibility Network Model Project 2: Targeted Rural Access Interventions – River Kaiti Crossings Project 3: Solar Refrigeration Systems Project 4: Solar Irrigation
This section outlines the agriculture and livestock sector’s anchor project of the Climate Smart Aggregation and Service Centres for Makueni County, presented as a pilot scheme for the sector to catalyse climate-resilient development. The project has the overarching objective of raising and stabilising farm incomes by combining logistics support with advice and training on farming practices, and improved access to finance and insurance, through a network of aggregation and service centres.
Agricultural productivity within Makueni County is below its potential due to limited adoption of technology, costly access to inputs, inadequate extension services and difficulties accessing finance. The position of farmers is exacerbated by limited local agri-processing and offtake, high transport costs, and climate change. These issues cannot be addressed separately and will be more financially self-sustaining if addressed together. For example:
> Developing an aggregation network can reduce transport costs and raise farmers’ margins but does little to improve access to finance or resilience; > Investment in extension services can make some positive impact on productivity but the impact is limited by access to finance; and > Expanding available finance for agriculture without supporting services, is unlikely to increase investment.
A variety of existing initiatives have been making progress in addressing these issues in the County, and building the foundations needed for more secure, resilient livelihoods. These include the work of the County Climate Change Fund, AGRA’s Village Based Advisors programme, and the Kenya Cereals Enhancement Programme Climate Resilience Agricultural Livelihoods project among others, and provide a strong foundation, and base of partners and expertise which this anchor project can build on and complement. In line with this, an integrated aggregation and services approach for the Climate Smart Centres is introduced in Section 4.2.1.1.
