Climate change has reduced maize production in Kajiado - Experts

Agricultural activity has been impacted negatively in Kajiado following the effects of prolonged droughts linked to climate change, agronomist Josephat Macharia disclosed on Tuesday.

Macharia, an expert in the science of soil management and crop production in the county government, said that 10 years ago, farmers used to harvest 40 bags of the maize crop per acre and has now dropped to 12 bags.

He spoke in Kajiado town during a county two-day training on climate change and climate-smart agriculture.

The county official said most regions that depended on rain-fed agriculture are no longer producing agricultural foodstuff due to scarce rains.

Macharia said many distinct issues have been identified as activators of climate change, which include changes in the earth’s orbit around the sun.

Others, he said, are the variations in the output of energy from the sun, and changes in ocean circulation resulting mainly from fluctuations in the upwelling of deep cold waters in the tropical Pacific Ocean.

Mostly, he said, the composition of the atmosphere has been altered by human activities for over 200 years.

Macharia said that in Kajiado, rampant destruction of trees and sand harvesting have played a major role in the loss of rain.

Speaking during the function, Joy Pello, from the county government of Kajiado said policies to protect the environment are being implemented but failed to explain why charcoal burning and sand harvesting are still going on in the region.

But George Kimiti, a director in the county department of Environment, said they are planning to register all the charcoal burners in cooperatives so that the county government could find them an alternative means of earning money through selling tree seedlings.

Kimiti said the county government is also planning to recruit sand harvesters in the county into cooperative groups and buy them motorbikes to use as sources of income.

“We have not started all that yet, but we are heading there,” said Kimiti.

Macharia said the global average temperature has risen by about 0.76 ºC since the year 1900, with much of the increase occurring since 1970.

“This is confirmed by other independent observations such as the melting of Arctic sea ice, the retreat of mountain glaciers, reductions in the extent of snow cover, and increased melting of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets,” Macharia said.

An agricultural expert at the county, Joseph Ruto, said many policies related to the protection of the environment have been passed by the county assembly but have not been implemented.

Ruto said one of the drivers of climate change is global warming which is caused by a build-up of greenhouse gases.

The five major greenhouse gases, he said, are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), trifluoromethane (CF2), and sulphur hexaflouride (SF6).

Ruto said climate change has already altered the water cycle, affecting where, when and how much water is available for all uses.

“It will likely be the case that there will be too little water in some places, too much water in other places, and degraded water quality,” he said.

Other locations, Ruto added, are expected to be subject to all these conditions during different times of the year.

Several speakers said poor people are hardest hit by the impacts of climate change because of a combination of circumstances that includes a lack of natural, social, human, financial and physical assets or resources.

They said many of the world’s poorest populations live in and around marginal lands such as deserts, flood plains, and low-lying areas.

This, they said, makes them vulnerable to climate-induced threats.