Livestock-producing households' awareness and perception of climate change and its effect on CSA uptake

The livestock subsector is a major contributor to food security and a key source of livelihood especially in Kenyan ASALs where 80% of the total livestock is found. However, due to the nature of their agricultural systems, these regions are most susceptible to climate change which is likely to jeopardize the sector’s contribution to the ASAL economy. CSA has been identified and promoted through the governmental policies and other non-governmental agencies as one of the solutions to the threats of climate change through improved productivity and incomes; building resilience to climate change and; sequestering GHG emissions. However, the ASAL region still remains vulnerable to the threats of climate change. This raises questions about awareness, perception and use of these practices among the smallholder farmers. Therefore, this study is designed to assess knowledge, awareness and use of the CSA practices using 737 smallholder livestock keeping households. Cross-sectional data were collected from sampled households in Laikipia, Taita Taveta and Kajiado counties, complementing with KIIs and FGDs. Descriptive statistics were employed to assess the awareness and use of CSA practices and the result revealed that livestock farmers’ awareness on practices was low. Further results demonstrated that there was very low use of CSA practices with majority of them falling below 50%. Perception of climate change, extension services access, credit and higher number of goats within an household were found to positively influence the uptake of most of the CSA practices. There is need to enhance not only the dissemination of the CSA but also sensitize the farmers on the expected benefits of CSA to increase its adoption rates. This study therefore suggests effective institutional and policy interventions for creating awareness and financial support to the farmers to accelerate the adoption of CSA practices.