By Athman Amran
Kenya has received over Sh2.7 billion (2,250,000 Euros) from the German Government to help the agriculture sector adapt strategies to cope with changing climatic conditions.
Kenya will contribute Sh21 million to the project known as The Adaptation to Climate Change and Insurance (ACCI), which started on January 2011 and will continue till February 2014.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) will implement the project, which will be funded by the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
First of its kind
"This is the first project of its kind in the agricultural sector," agriculture ministry Permanent Secretary Romano Kiome said while signing the agreement between the Kenya Government and Germany at Kilimo House in Nairobi on Tuesday.
The programme manager of the Agricultural Sector of the German Technical Cooperation Mr Reimund Hoffmann represented the German Government.
The goal of the ACCI project is to enable small-scale enterprises, cooperatives, water user groups and processing and marketing enterprises to increase their capacity to adapt to climate change by making use of climate risk management measures.
The project will be piloted in Homa Bay in Nyanza Province and Busia in Western Province before going to other regions.
The project supports agricultural advisory services for climatic risk management that would minimise vulnerability and stabilise and improve yields in agriculture.
Insurance
The promotion of insurance solutions, which cover risks affected by climate and weather events, such as crop yields will also be supported by the project.
The project will also support insurance companies by creating awareness about insurance schemes, which use weather indices to trigger compensation in cases of extreme weather events such as drought and floods.
Kiome said the ministry has set up a climate change unit, which is expected to come up with suggestions on how to deal with climate change.
He said the East African Community is also planning to set up a climate change unit so that the region can have a firmer understanding of climate change and have mitigation measures, especially for small-scale farmers.
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