Abstract
Rapidly changing climatic conditions in East Africa are increasing sources of vulnerability for rural agricultural communities. Current agricultural practices and institutional coping mechanisms are unable to cope with these changes, and calls for adaptation in agricultural systems. The CGIAR Research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has developed the Climate Analogue tool that connects sites with statistically similar (‘analogous’) climatic conditions, across space and time. The tool can and has been used to connect farmers and agricultural stakeholders to their plausible future climates through the Farms of the Future (FotF) approach—where farmers learn about potential adaptation strategies and institutional innovations through farmer–to–farmer exchanges between analogue sites. The FotF approach can be used together with ongoing support for participatory action research to build reflective capacity and awareness of challenges farmers likely to face and to identify and develop possible solutions among farmers and other agricultural stakeholders. This paper documents the learning experiences of farmers from Nyando, in Western Kenya during through participation in the climate learning journey across other counties in Kenya. The paper also shows how these farmers are planning to use their learning experiences to design local adaptation plans of actions.
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Notes
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This included the district agricultural extension officer, community development officers, land use planners and field officers, and representatives from various NGOs and research organizations.
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Acknowledgements
The study team hereby offers grateful thanks to the communities and various government departments, NGOs and CBOs that hosted our extensive field journey. Most of all we extend our thanks to the farmers from Kapsorok and Kamwana villages. Further, we would like to thank the facilitators Wilson Aore, Reuben Chirchir, Jared Akuku and CCAFS field technicians; David Musuya and Wilson Okila for all their hard work in organizing the exchange visit.
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Kimeli, P., Nyasimi, M., Radeny, M. (2017). Strengthening Farmer Adaptive Capacity Through Farms of the Future Approach in Nyando, Western Kenya. In: Leal Filho, W., Belay, S., Kalangu, J., Menas, W., Munishi, P., Musiyiwa, K. (eds) Climate Change Adaptation in Africa. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49520-0_39
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