Climate and Environment

Towards identifying the level of awareness of climate change within Nyansiongo Sub County in Nyamira, William and Dinah Oigara community Foundation in 2017 supported a survey to establish local knowledge, perception and response to climate change among small scale farm holders.

Climate change and variability is currently an incentive of global concern. It is identified as a change in weather patterns that occurs within the atmosphere that attribute directly or indirectly to human activity. Climate change refers to long term changes as calculated over many years, while climate variability refers to temporary or yearly variations in climatic changes (rainfall, sunshine and temperature) above or below long term mean changes.

Agriculture is one of the main sources of livelihoods for smallholder farmers in rural communities.  Yet, small holder’s farmers face more challenges that affect agricultural productivity such as poor infrastructure, poverty, and lack of information. The knowledge of farmers therefore, is important for enhancing their adaptive capacity either through long-term observations and interaction with the environment, which is transferred from generation to generation.

Observations have identified that farmers’ knowledge and perceptions to climate change,   influences their adaptation strategies, reduces food insecurity and improves their ability to develop resilience. Therefore, knowledge and perceptions provide insight on which individuals structure human-environment interactions.