Title: Climate smart agriculture adaptation strategies for rain-fed agriculture in drought-prone areas of Central Kenya

Authors: Peterson N.M. Njeru; Immaculate Maina; John K. Lekasi; Stephen K. Kimani; Anthony O. Esilaba; Jayne Mugwe; M. Mucheru-Muna

Addresses: Department of Natural Resource Management, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, KARI Muguga South, P.O. Box 30148-00100, Nairobi, Kenya ' Department of Natural Resource Management, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, KARI Muguga South, P.O. Box 30148-00100, Nairobi, Kenya ' Department of Natural Resource Management, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, KARI Muguga South, P.O. Box 30148-00100, Nairobi, Kenya ' Department of Natural Resource Management, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, KARI Muguga South, P.O. Box 30148-00100, Nairobi, Kenya ' Department of Natural Resource Management, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, KARI Muguga South, P.O. Box 30148-00100, Nairobi, Kenya ' Department of Agricultural Resource Management, Kenyatta University, P.O. Box 43844-00100, Nairobi, Kenya ' Department of Environmental Studies, Kenyatta University, P.O. Box 43844-00100, Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract: The drier parts of Central Kenya are characterised by poor crop harvest due to unpredictable, unreliable and poor rainfall distribution patterns. The field experiment was laid out in Partially Balanced Incomplete Block Design (PBIBD) with 36 treatments replicated three times. The treatments of tied ridges and contour furrows under sorghum alone and intercrop plus external soil amendment of 40 kg P/ha + 20 kg N/ha + manure 2.5 t/ha had the highest grain yield of 3.1 t/ha. The soil fertility levels differed significantly from one another (p = 0.0001) in terms of sorghum grain yield. Generally, all experiment controls had the lowest grain yields as low as 0.3 t/ha to 0.5 t/ha. Therefore, integration of minimal organic and inorganic inputs under various water harvesting technologies could be considered as an alternative food security initiative towards climate smart agriculture for climate change mitigation in drought-prone areas of Central Kenya.

Keywords: rainfall distribution patterns; cropping calendar; soil amendments; food security; climate smart agriculture; Kenya; adaptation strategies; rain-fed agriculture; drought prone areas; grain yield; water harvesting; climate change mitigation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJARGE.2016.076928

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2016 Vol.12 No.2, pp.113 - 124

Accepted: 29 Jan 2016
Published online: 07 Jun 2016 *

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