Communication Of Climate Information To Smallholder Farmers: A Case Study Of Mbeere North, Embu County

Abstract

Communication of climate information is essential for realization of social political and economic development. This study sought to investigate the link involved in communication of climate information to smallholder farmers. This research was guided by use of cross-sectional survey. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 200 respondents who participated in the cross-sectional survey. A validated structured questionnaire with variables on weather information was used to collect the primary data. Data summary and classification were done using descriptive statistics from Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The study concluded that majority of respondents in Mbeere North were Women while the predominant age was between 45 and 59 years. The level of education showed that most farmers had primary education with majority of community being unemployed and those with income earned less than Ksh.10, 000/- per month. However, most smallholder farmers indicated that they owned their land with livestock keeping as the main activity. It is noted that most smallholder farmers accessed climate information through literature available in public compared to radio and mobile phones. The climate information was mostly accessed on a monthly basis. Moreover, these farmers indicated their trustworthiness of climate Information provided by media services. However, farmers indicated that information from extension officers was the most useful for their agricultural activities. Farmers in Mbeere North acknowledged that they knew more than one weather element. However, rainfall was identified as the most significant element which largely affected their activities. Their choice of climate information was mostly influenced by its availability. Occasionally, these farmers discussed climate and weather changes, farming issues, financial news and general information in the community. County and district Meteorology staff indicated that knowledge sharing systems that engage with smallholder farmers towards improvement of management of their crops, livestock and natural resources aimed at increasing the production as well as minimize the negative environmental impacts was useful. Moreover, communication of climate information to stakeholders who include farmers, farmer’s trainers and other sectoral actors aimed at equipping them with relevant information on how to cope with climate change was noted to be mostly through specialized write up that has been unpacked and cleaned up by extension and the communication officers so as to be readable by mostly farmers who do not have training on agricultural skill and climate information. Furthermore, more than 95% of the respondents acknowledged the availability of platforms to support the communication of climate change through knowledge sharing. Therefore, providing location specific and easy to understand climate forecasts will enhance farmers’ capacity to use climate information to manage risk to smallholder farmers and thus improve their coping capacity and adaptation to expected impacts of climate change. Moreover, exploring the link between provision of climate information and livelihood will provide basis towards capacity development and adaptation aimed at increasing the resilience of the community to the expected impacts of climate change.