Data is critical tool as farmers fight drought in Kenya
As the worst drought in forty years causes crops to fail at small-scale farms across Kenya, we meet the people taking action to better prepare communities for dramatically changing climate conditions.
From 2020 to 2023, communities in East Africa experienced the worst drought since the 1980s. In this region, 80 per cent of food production relies heavily on small-scale farmers. But with three years of below average rainfall, families have lost cattle, crops and livelihoods. Seven million children under the age of five are malnourished and urgently need nutrition assistance across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, according to a UNICEF report published in May 2023.
Building resilience
In 2019, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC) initiated a project to boost the resilience of communities vulnerable to extreme weather in Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya.
A key aim is to equip vulnerable farmers with vital weather and climate information to help them better cope with and adapt to extreme weather conditions. NORCAP has supported the project since its inception, assigning experts in a range of areas, including climate services, information technology and communication.
Climate services play a crucial role in promoting climate resilience. They provide seasonal, monthly and weekly forecasts, as well as long-term projections and hazard alerts. This allows people – especially farmers – to make climate-smart decisions, such as which crops to plant and when.
But how does this work in practice? Who are the main players and which roles do they have? Let’s take a closer look at the development and communication of climate and weather information from the regional to the county level in Kenya.
Regional level: East Africa
ICPAC – IGAD’s Climate prediction and application centre
Provides climate services to 11 countries in East Africa. NORCAP and ICPAC have been collaborating since 2018. ICPAC puts together seasonal, monthly and weekly forecasts, seasonal outlooks and early warning systems for the region.
The centre also monitors hazards and makes the information freely available to all through the East African Hazards Watch, the East Africa Drought Watch and the Agricultural Watch.
Collaboration for change
When we visit ICPAC’s Nairobi office in early 2023, there are five NORCAP experts on assignment with the organisation.
They are developing tools for hazard monitoring, helping journalists to better report weather and climate information and facilitating co-production of climate services. The latter involves collaborating with farmers and other end-users in the production process to ensure that the services are tailored to their unique needs and circumstances.
Ahead of the two annual rainy seasons in Kenya, ICPAC works with the Kenyan Meteorological Department (KMD). Together, they develop seasonal forecasts for Kenya and set up “participatory scenario planning” workshops in communities targeted by the project.
The workshops aim to involve stakeholders in the co-production of climate services. Experts in sectors such as health and agriculture meet with journalists and end-user representatives to develop advisories and production plans for the upcoming season, based on the latest forecast.
“In Kenya, maize is a staple food and perceived as a safe crop. Because of this, people across the country tend to plant maize,” says Joyce Jelagat, a NORCAP climate services expert on assignment with ICPAC.
“Although there are drought-resilient and high-yielding maize varieties, most farmers continue to plant the regular variety, despite several seasons of underperformance.
In these workshops, we give people advice on alternative crops that are more resilient to drought than maize and more suitable for the climate in areas like Kenya’s Taita Taveta County. Good alternatives include groundnuts, green grams, macadamia trees and hay farming.”
The co-production workshops are relatively new. While farmers received forecasts before the project was initiated, there were no specific advisories on how to act on that information. Climate and weather experts rarely involved end-users, which caused farmers to doubt the accuracy of the information they received.
“While some farmers have embraced the advice provided during the workshops and noticed some positive changes, others continue to grow crops that are not drought-tolerant, such as maize. Changing these habits takes time. That’s why it is critical that we collaborate and have open discussions about challenges with local communities,” says Joyce.
National and county level: Kenya
KMD - The Kenya Meteorological Department
At the national and county level, KMD is responsible for downscaling the regional forecasts from ICPAC to make them relevant to Kenya and its counties.
In Kenya, there are 47 county meteorological offices and three regional meteorological services. Every hour, they report data manually in a digital system that ICPAC uses to monitor the climate.
At the county level, KMD is in direct dialogue with farmers, journalists, rain gauge readers, traditional forecasters and sector experts, and uses WhatsApp groups and text messages to share relevant information.
KMD also takes part in the co-production workshops, where they present forecasts. KMD has weather stations outside their offices across the country. With support from the project, an automated weather station has also been installed in Taita Taveta.
County level: Taita Taveta
Sector experts
Representatives from ministries, organisations and institutions, including the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, the Ministry of Water, the Ministry of Health, FAO and the Red Cross, take part in the workshops.
They provide specific advice on recommended actions, based on the forecast. The Ministry of Agriculture, for example, gives advice on what farmers should plant and when.
Journalists
Radio is the most important source for information in Kenya, according to a new study by ICPAC, produced with the support of NORCAP. ICPAC trains journalists to report on weather and climate in an effective and easy way.
During the project, 30 journalists from Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya have received training and follow-up. The journalists take part in the workshops and each journalist develops a media action plan for the season. The plan includes a list of tasks, including what information to share and when, relevant sources and which formats to use.
The role of journalism
Linda Akoth works at Sifa radio station in Taita Taveta, where she broadcasts weather and climate information to the local community every day.
Linda is one of the journalists who attended ICPAC’s training on climate and weather reporting. She refers to KMD’s representative in Taita Taveta, Robinson Namayi Asira, as “the weatherman”.
“After receiving the information from the weatherman, we have to interpret it so we can communicate it using language that our listeners can actually understand,” Linda says.
Before the project, those who provided climate and weather information where often criticised for using difficult and technical language. With training, journalists can eliminate jargon and make the information simple, understandable and accessible.
“It opened my mind and I gained new skills. It’s not just about giving a report. Its deeper than that. Education, food security, health, environment – everything – it’s all connected,” she says, referring to how the climate affects the entire community.
In addition to reporting on the forecast and advisories during her daily morning show, Linda produces news stories that explore the wider impact of the forecast. She interviews government officials, representatives from organisations and meets with farmers to hear how the weather affects them.
A critical part of the project is to be in direct dialogue with the people who use climate services to get feedback to make the services more efficient and relevant. When Linda meets farmers or receives text messages or phone calls from listeners, she shares important feedback with county officials.
Linda is concerned about how the drought is affecting people in Taita Taveta. When there is little or no food, women and children are at great risk. She explains that children sometimes have to drop out of school, either because they are malnourished and do not have the energy they need – or because their parents need their help to get food for the family. This can also result in child marriage and child labour.
“The whole family depends on the women to make sure there’s food on the table. When they have to walk several kilometres to look for water, they are at risk of being raped – especially when it’s just girls and women walking alone over longer distances,” she says.
Climate services can help reduce some of these risks. By receiving information about what to plant and when in the next season, families are better equipped to cope with climate extremes like drought and potentially avoid food shortages.
Rain gauge readers
KMD recruits people from the local community to be volunteer rain gauge readers. The volunteers receive equipment from FAO to measure rainfall daily. They report to KMD when it rains, in addition to providing a monthly rainfall record. The information is then shared with ICPAC, together with the information collected at the KMD stations. The rain gauge readers take part in the project workshops.
Tidorah S. Lukila is a farmer and a volunteer rain gauge reader from a village outside the city of Voi in Taita Taveta. Every morning at nine o’clock, she checks the rain gauge. Being a volunteer has sparked her interest in weather information, as she saw first-hand how it benefitted her own farming. KMD has four rain gauge readers in Taita Taveta.
Traditional forecasters
Many people from the local communities rely on traditional forecasting methods for weather information about the upcoming season. By including traditional forecasting in the workshops, the project aims to gain the trust and respect of end-users.
When signs of rain fail
“The first thing I observe is the sky,” says Clement Mangi, a traditional forecaster living just outside the city of Voi, in Taita Taveta. He talks about some of his forecasting methods, passed down for generations. It is not a method for long-term forecasting, but many people in the local community trust and respect his abilities and rely on his forecasting skills.
However, environmental degradation and the changes in climate and weather in recent years have had a significant impact on his work. Many of the things that used to be definite signs of rainfall are no longer reliable.
“Stars are one of the signs we use for weather forecasts and changes. Now, the evening star has come earlier than expected and I am confused. All our expectations have been turned upside down. Will there be rain? I can’t tell. People used to come to me for advice. But now I tell them that I am also wondering what is happening,” he says.
Clement is also a small-scale farmer. But the current climate is destroying his crops.
“We are concerned because we are starving. Many animals have died. We ask ourselves what we have we done wrong. All of what I have planted is dead. I will take you around to show you how much we have wasted,” he says.
Farmers
Farmers across Taita Taveta are divided into farmer groups as part of the project. A representative from each group is included in the workshops. The representative is responsible for sharing forecasts and advisories with the rest of the group.
Additionally, 220 farmers receive monthly and weekly forecasts via text messages, and there are 1,300 people who receive weather forecasts from KMD via WhatsApp groups, including journalists, farmer group leaders and farmers with WhatsApp access. The farmers use the advisories to plan the season, and those who followed the advice during the drought were able to harvest some food.
Showcasing possibilities
We meet farmer Jonnes Ellijah Mlegwah at his farm outside Voi in Taita Taveta. His fields are in various shades of green. He is a farmer group leader and has made significant changes to the way he works to adapt to climate change.
Jonnes invites us for a walk around his farm. He stops here and there to show us some of his produce: sweet peppers, melons, sweet potatoes and green grams. He has learnt about irrigation methods to save water as well as drought-tolerant and early-maturing crops.
With the water shortage in the area due to prolonged drought, he buys truck water to supplement the frequently rationed tap water, which the government supplies for a fee.
Even though Jonnes is better off than some of his fellow farmers, months and months of drought still take a toll, and he is concerned for the future if they don’t manage to find alternative water sources.
“My concern is that climate change has really affected farming. We are no longer able to sustain our crops on rainwater alone,” he says.
“Before the project, we used to plant crops without following the weather,” Jonnes says. “Today, weather information is a major issue. If we have less rain, we are told to grow crops that are drought-tolerant and mature early, like green grams. They are good, drought-tolerant and fetch a competitive price. For a kilo, you can get 200 Kenyan shillings, while maize only brings in about 70–100 Kenyan shillings per kilo.”
Jonnes takes part in the co-production workshops and is responsible for sharing the forecasts and advisories with the rest of his farmer group. He is also regularly in dialogue with KMD, as he receives monthly and weekly forecasts via WhatsApp, which he passes on to the members of his group.
His successful farm is an inspiration to other farmers who can see first-hand how his methods have saved most of his crops.
“Farmers like Jonnes are crucial,” says Joyce Jelagat, a NORCAP climate services expert. “They inspire and influence fellow farmers to change, by showcasing what’s possible with the available alternatives.”