DETERMINANTS OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS’ ADOPTION OF CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES IN LAIKIPIA CENTRAL SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

Climate variability and change is increasingly threatening livelihoods and food security and in turn, the attainment of national development goals in Kenya. The declining productivity of agricultural production systems calls for a transformational change in farming practices to ensure sustainable and resilient agriculture. This study assessed smallholder farmers’ perception of climate variability and change, climate smart agricultural practices used by farmers to adapt to climate change and analyzed factors influencing adoption of climate smart practices in response to climate variability and change. Primary data were collected from 204 smallholder farmers within Laikipia Central sub-county through interview schedule and checklists for key informant interviews while secondary data were obtained from Center of Training and Integrated Research in Arid and Semi-Arid Land Development. Descriptive statistics and econometric model were used to analyze the data. The study showed that 100% of the respondents had noticed changes in climate but with varying perceptions of the extent and direction of change of rainfall and temperature parameters. The farmers had adopted a wide range of climate smart agricultural practices and those evaluated for this study included crop diversification, manure management, change of crops, change of planting dates, high yielding varieties, on-farm water conservation, fodder production and crop rotation. Results from the Multivariate Probit Model indicated that membership to an agricultural group, farm assets, size of farm, access to weather and climate information, access to extension, access to credit, market distance and number of livestock owned influenced adoption of climate smart agricultural practices positively. The study recommends building the financial capacity of the farmers, enhancing timely delivery of quality weather and climate information, looking into ways of conflict resolution, sensitizing farmers on climate adaptation to change their concept and encouraging formation of farmer groups and producer organizations