The long-term prospects of Kenya recovering from its frequent cycle of droughts are not looking promising. Delayed rains and rising temperatures have left more than a million people in marginal agricultural and pastoral areas fighting for survival due to food and nutritional deficits. Poor rains have interfered with the regular planting cycle and reduced pasture in pastoral areas, according to the latest Famine Early Warning System Network (Fews). Apparently, Kenya is increasingly feeling the effects of climate change. As temperatures continue to rise, climate shocks, including droughts and floods, are expected to be more frequent. Mitigating climate change should be a development priority, to protect the exponentially increasing population — to 65 million by 2030 and 85 million by 2050, by World Bank estimates. Our survival kit includes implementing climate mitigation and resilience interventions to increase agricultural productivity and improve value chains. There’s no shortage of funding for this. The Dutch government, for instance, is investing €39 million to help Kenya to entrench climate-smart agriculture. The project, being implemented in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda by the Dutch NGO SNV, in partnership with Wageningen University and Research, CGIAR and others, seeks to scale up adoption of smart agricultural innovations and technologies to mitigate the effects of climate change. Case studies on Irish potatoes demonstrate how much local farmers lose by sticking to old production technologies, including waiting for the rains to support their production. While the Netherlands achieved a record output of 52.6 tons of potatoes per hectare, Kenya did 7.9 tons, or just 15 per cent of Dutch farmers’ yield. Potato production Kenya is one of the 10 largest producers of potatoes in Africa, but its efficiency is relatively low. South Africa, for instance, produces an average of 36 tons per hectare and the second-best, Egypt, 26 tons. At 13.8 tons per hectare, Ethiopia is close to the continental average (13 tons). The Irish potato is the second-most important food for Kenyans after maize, but is considered more significant to improving the livelihoods of farmers because of its diverse uses as family food and in agro-processing industries (such as for potato chips and crisps). These value-added activities improve incomes for farmers. Considering the average annual consumption of 25 kilogrammes per Kenyan, a hectare of Irish potatoes can support 316 consumers. Compare this to a hectare of a Dutch farm, which can support more than 2,000 Kenyans. With climate-smart agriculture, a hectare of potatoes would support a much higher number of consumers, substantially increase incomes for producers and expand agro-processing industries. Source - https://www.freshplaza.com