Using Climate-Smart Financial Diaries for Scaling in the Nyando Basin, Kenya

Nyando Basin in western Kenya has severe problems of agricultural stagnation, environmental degradation and deepening poverty, aggravated by climate change causing more erratic rainfall patterns and shortening of growing season. CCAFS projects WUR-F2-P248 and ILRI-F1-F2-EA-P263 identified successful interventions supporting farmers to cope with these adverse effects. One of the most promising avenues combines drought-resistant breeds of goats with horticulture and agroforestry - a food production system that is climate-resilient and climate smart in closing nutrient cycles. This project aims to contribute to developing and upscaling this business model addressing three challenges: (1) designing a conducive financial environment that enables upscaling, (2) identifying additional value chain partners to increase financial viability, (3) identifying constraints, opportunities and required policy interventions at landscape level. An accompanying study of a more arid area closer to Nairobi (Wote village) highlights the generalizability of findings for areas where local interventions have yet to produce positive results.