The nature and extent of adoption of climate-smart agriculture technologies in Murang’a County, Kenya: A case of Kiharu Constituency

Abstract

Climate-smart farming, regenerative farming techniques and carbon farming are gaining popularity worldwide due to their potential to improve food and nutrition security. Kenya’s agriculture is largely rain-fed and characterized by unreliable rainfall and high temperatures affecting production, quality and pricing. While there is evidence of opportunities presented by CSA supporting smallholders’ adaptation to climate change, the rate of adoption remains low. The study, therefore, assessed the nature and extent of adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies and innovations taking Kiharu Constituency as a case. About 50 households were sampled and data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, observations and secondary sources. The descriptive analysis on collected data revealed that on average 63.55% of the farmers were aware of the CSA technologies while only 55.10% of farmers adopted them. The most adopted and utilized practices by more than 50% of the farmers include crop rotation, intercropping, terracing, ridging/furrowing, resilient crop varieties, irrigation, agroforestry, building gabions, forage conservation, and drought-tolerant animal breeds. The CSA technologies least adopted with less than 50% of the farmers utilising them include minimum tillage, mulching and planting pits. Further research on methods of enhancing the scalability of CSA technologies and innovations is vital for increasing awareness and uptake.