Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project

(KACP)

Features and lessons learned

By Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry

Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

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

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

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

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

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

Holistic approach in KACP

FED

VS&LA SALM

SALM=Sustainable Agricultural and Land use Management FED: Farm Enterprise Development VS&LA: Village Savings and Loan Associations

Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

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):  

Methodology development

Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

KML files

Database

GIS

Farm polygon

KACP – precision in MRV

Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

KACP and food security

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

2009 2010 2011

Percent of household s experiencing increased food

security due to SALM

KACP shows yields increased by 15 – 30 %

Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

Trees on agricultural land is increasing

Source: Vi Agroforestry (2011) 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2009 2010 2011

Avg no of trees on cropland

Amos Wekesa, Vi Agroforestry COP17, Durban

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