How can mitigation funding benefit smallholders’ food security and build climate resilience. Learning Event 8, Session 2, Room A. Agriculture and Rural Development Day.

1. Kenya Agricultural
Carbon Project
(KACP)
Features and lessons learned
By Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

2. Win-Win-Win
scenario
In KACP it is evident
that mitigation finance
provide significant
incentives to leverage
agricultural investments
that generate:
1) productivity
increases,
2) reduction/removal
of greenhouse
gases and
3) increased climate
resilience.
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

3. Area characteristics
! Western Kenya (Kitale &
Kisumu)
! 3% population growth
! 80% of population are farmers
! 25% of children below 5yrs are
underweight
! Average land size owned is
around 1ha
! 90% of populations use
firewood or charcoal for
cooking food every day
! Around 50% of smallholders
live on less than 1USD/day
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

4. Implementation status 2011
and key features
! 30field officers providing
advisory services
! 20,262 farmers adopting
SALM (target 60,000)
! 9,656 hectare under SALM
(target 45,000)
! 1,122 groups recruited (target
3,000)
! 598 groups contracted
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

5. KACP and Climate Smart Agriculture
• For mitigation of land degradation
and greenhouse gases
• For adaptation to climate variability
- Terraces
- Water retention ditches
- Residue management
- Mulch
- Composting
- Controlled grazing
- Crop rotation
- Cover crops
- Improved fallows
- Nitrogen fixing trees
intercropped
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

6. KACP – save space and secure food
! >80% smallholders (Farmsize:
0.7 ha in Kisumu; 1.1 ha in
Kitale)
! Multi-functionality of
agroforestry
• Ecosystem services
• Hign productivity
• Food security
• Sustainability
• Resilient landscape
! For every hectare put into
agroforestry alternatives, five to
ten hectares can be saved
(ICRAF).
! Diversification of a farming
system is very important in case
weather or market is unreliable
or if pests attack the products.
! Agroforestry diversifies the
timing of production so that
farmers do not receive their
entire year’s income at one time.
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

7. Holistic approach in KACP
SALM=Sustainable
Agricultural and Land
use Management FED
FED: Farm
Enterprise
Development
SALM VS&LA
VS&LA: Village
Savings and Loan
Associations
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

8. Methodology development
Key
methodology
features:
!
Generic
and
can
be
scaled
up
!
Model
approach
with
ac:vity-­‐based
monitoring
!
The
model
is
4-­‐5
cheaper
than
soil
sampling,
minimizing
transac:on
costs
and
helps
farmers
to
reach
their
objec:ves
!
Long-­‐term
research
in
Kenya
confirms
model
applicability
!
Non-­‐soil
modules
(using
approved
CDM
AR
methodologies
for
tree
carbon)
!
Methodology
submiLed
to
Verified
Carbon
Standard
(VCS):
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

9. KACP – precision in MRV
Database Farm polygon
GIS
KML files
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

10. KACP and food security
Percent of household s
experiencing increased food
security due to SALM
60%
KACP shows yields increased by
15 – 30 %
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2009 2010 2011
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

11. Trees on agricultural land
is increasing
Avg no of trees on cropland
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2009 2010 2011
Source: Vi Agroforestry (2011)
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

12. Conclusion/Recommendations
! KACP show that carbon payments can be well
integrated into projects promoting sustainable
agricultural development
! Extension and advisory services prerequisite
for successful implementation and needs more
attention and funding
! Bottom up and participatory approaches gives
best results
! Carbon finance should leverage climate smart
agriculture
! Training and capacity building for project
entities is essential
! Merge adaptation and mitigation funding
! Combine financing from public and private
sources
Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

13. Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban