The World Health Organization (WHO) states that food security achieved “when all people, at all times have physical and economic access to adequate, sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. It is not just about physical availability of food. It is more about the accessibility of food in terms of its affordability in adequate quantities with essential nutrients.
Smallholder challenges in realizing food security
At the micro level (household), the challenges to the realization of food security include continued over-reliance on rain-fed agriculture, limited agro-processing or value addition, inefficient marketing systems, losses due to emerging pests and diseases, poor post-harvest handling, high costs of production due to high cost of inputs, poor rural infrastructure (feeder roads and storage facilities), limited access to affordable credit facilities as well as limited investment in the agriculture sector.
Agriculture in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) is constrained by low annual rainfall and effects of climate change. This calls for the diversification of the rural economies to reduce reliance on climate-sensitive agricultural practices, adoption of drought-tolerant crop varieties, empowerment of rural farmers to become more resilient to climate change and building the capacity of smallholder farmers to access local and national markets.
Responding to the challenges
In response to the challenges facing ASAL counties regarding adaptation to climate change, Cereal Growers Association has partnered with Christian Aid to implement a Cereal Value Chain Enhancement Program (CVEP) in Makueni, Kitui, Embu and Tharaka Nithi Counties. The CVEP activity is targeting at least 2500 smallholder farmers over the next 7 months with a scale up expected after the first phase. The focus value chains for the first phase are sorghum and green grams.
The CVEP initiative commenced in August 2018.
The main objective of the CVEP interventions is to commercialize the sorghum and green gram value chains in order to improve food security and increase household incomes for smallholder farmers. With smallholder farmers usually resource-poor and susceptible to climate and economic shocks, CVEP interventions are geared towards strengthening their adaptive capacity so that they can become more food and economic secure.
To realize the main objective, the implementation of CVEP activities is seeking achieve three specific objectives namely: To increase sorghum and green gram productivity; to enhance adoption of good agricultural practices and to enhance smallholder farmers’ access to structured markets.
Targeted activities
The achievement of these objectives is based on the execution of various activities. These include: Training of lead farmers on good agricultural practices (GAP) and Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA); Training of smallholder farmers in GAP and CSA; Establishment of crop demonstration plots; Organization of farmer field days; Training of smallholder farmers on post-harvest handling and storage (PHHS); and Training of smallholder farmers on agribusiness and financial literacy (Farming as a Business).
The CVEP approach is three-fold. The first approach is to train and build the capacity of lead farmers (progressive farmers) who will act as the early adopters and ambassadors of climate smart agriculture technologies beyond the project period. The second approach is the collaboration of CGA and county extension teams in the implementation of planned project activities. The third approach relates to fostering of strategic partnerships among various value chain actors – input suppliers, financial service providers, output buyers and policy makers. These approaches are critical in enhancing the sustainability of the CVEP interventions beyond the project period.
During the period August – October 2018, 84 lead farmers were trained in GAP and CSA. Over 2066 smallholder farmers in the 4 focus counties were trained on GAP and CSA. 17 crop demonstration plots have been established as well as the identification of 19 grain aggregation centers. During the November – February 2018 period, an estimated 500 farmers will be trained in GAP and CSA, 1,250 farmers will be trained in agribusiness and financial literacy, 2,500 farmers will be trained in post-harvest handling and storage (PHHS), 4 farmer field days will be organized and the CGA and county extension teams will coordinate sorghum and green gram aggregation and marketing.
Intervention outcomes
It is expected that the implemented of CVEP interventions will help participating farmers to increase their sorghum and green gram yields by at least 5% during the project period. Over 60% of the trained smallholder farmers are expected to adopt good agricultural practices as well as climate smart agriculture technologies. An estimated 45 forward contracts will be signed between farmers and output buyers. It is expected that 1,500 farmers will access structured markets through collective aggregation and marketing. Approximately 540MT of sorghum and green gram will be aggregated and marketed by participating farmers.
In the main, CVEP interventions will be a contribution to the Pillar 1 of the Big 4 agenda (Government of Kenya) on food security and nutrition. In addition, the CVEP interventions are key in the realization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly SDG 1 – No Poverty; SDG 2 – Zero hunger; SDG 5 – Gender Equality and SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth. As such, while CVEP is an important contribution to food security and nutrition needs at the household level, it is also key in the realization of national economic growth and development goals. In the final analysis, innovations and investments targeting smallholder farmers are the best weapons of fighting hunger and poverty as well as promoting sustainable development in rural areas.