KCSAP Publications

KALRO KCSAP

Introduction

The Kenya Climate-Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP) is a Government of Kenya / World Bank–supported initiative.
The main objective (Project Development Objective) is “to increase agricultural productivity and build resilience to climate change risks” among smallholder farmers, agro-pastoralists, and pastoral communities.
KCSAP is implemented over a multi-year period (originally 2017–2022), within the policy frameworks of Kenya’s Agriculture Sector Development Strategy and the National Climate Change Response Strategy.
As part of this, KALRO is tasked with implementing the component of “Strengthening Climate-Smart Agricultural Research and Seed Systems” — i.e. research, development and dissemination of improved agricultural Technologies, Innovations and Management Practices (TIMPs), and sustainable seed/breeding/fingerling systems.

Components

KCSAP (with KALRO’s support for research and seed systems) comprises five main components:

Upscaling Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices — Promoting adoption of improved TIMPs (for crops, livestock, natural resource management, aquaculture) among farmers.
Strengthening Climate-Smart Agricultural Research & Seed Systems — Through research and development, breeding, seed systems, and preparing “ready-to-scale” innovations (TIMPs) for widespread adoption.
Supporting Agro-weather, Market, Climate & Advisory Services — Providing farmers with agro-meteorological forecasting, market information, climate and advisory services to support decision-making (what to plant/when, livestock management, etc.).
Project Coordination and Management — Overseeing implementation at national and county levels.
Contingency Emergency Response — A safety-net mechanism to respond to crises (e.g. drought, pest invasion) among vulnerable communities.

Scope: Counties & Value Chains under KCSAP with KALRO

KCSAP was implemented — as of its core phase — in 24 counties spanning arid, semi-arid, and medium-to-high rainfall zones.
The project covers a range of value chains: crops (food crops like cereals, pulses, rice, potatoes etc.), livestock (dairy, poultry, etc.), aquaculture/fish, and natural resource/land-management (fodder, pasture, irrigation/soil-water management).
Under KALRO’s research and seed-system component, development and release of climate-smart, improved crop varieties and seeds — for example, new rice varieties suited to Kenyan conditions — is being prioritized.

Through KCSAP, more than 1.1 million farmers, organized in Community Interest Groups (CIGs) and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have benefited nationwide, under numerous value chains.
KALRO’s research resulted in generation and dissemination of numerous TIMPs (for crops, livestock, aquaculture, natural resource management) which are ready for scaling.
In specific counties — e.g. Kericho County — farmers took up production of crops like finger millet using improved varieties, mechanization support (power tillers), resulting in improved yields and incomes for smallholder groups.
Under the livestock/poultry subsector, KCSAP (with KALRO) supported improved indigenous chicken production — providing training to farmers, improving productivity, and laying foundation for growth of poultry value chains.
The project has also supported small-scale irrigation, water-management and diversification beyond rain-fed agriculture — e.g. in dry/semi-arid areas, helping households cope with drought/climate variability.