Renewable news from East Africa.
Climate Change Project Launched In Turkana-Kenya.
Trócaire, an organization that works to develop sustainable livelihoods and help communities prepare and respond to natural disasters, has partnered with a local organization Caritas Lodwar to launch a new 23-month project that addresses issues on climate change governance in Turkana County.
The project specifically aims at strengthening the capacity of government institutions and duty bearers to develop pro-poor climate change sensitive policies, training community members on climate change to enable them to influence policy and supporting community groups to develop and adopt ecosystem-based climate change adaptation strategies.
Speaking during the launch, the Trócaire Kenya Country Director, Eithne Brennan said that Trócaire’s climate change programme has had a huge effect on the people of Turkana, and that everyone, including the Kenyan government, needed to be accountable for what they were doing to mitigate these effects.
http://www.kenyanews.go.ke/climate-change-project-launched-in-turkana/
Adopting climate resilient agriculture in Uganda
In rural Uganda, women farmers are building food security through Quaker Service Australia’s (QSA) community-oriented training program. QSA, along with their implementing partner St Jude Family Projects, use a two-year model that allows women to drive their own empowerment. In the first year they receive training in agriculture and livelihood skills; the second year focuses on increasing their economic opportunities and business skills. The women learn to be teachers and leaders themselves, and are able to improve the health and wealth of their households.
The women are trained in small-scale irrigation, mixed crop livestock farming and crop diversification. This improves soil fertility, crop production and crop quality, which strengthens adaptability for climate change. They also learn to mitigate the impacts of climate change through the use of hybrid and resistant planting materials.
https://www.africanews.com/2019/06/03/adopting-climate-resilient-agriculture-in-uganda/
Rwanda and IFAD partner to reduce poverty in drought-prone areas
About 7,167 poor and food insecure rural households in Rwanda will benefit from a new US$24.7 million project that aims to improve food and nutrition security, climate resilience and raise incomes by increasing production. The financing agreement for the Kayonza Irrigation and Integrated Watershed Management Project – Phase 1 (KIIWP1) was signed on 22 June by Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and Gerardine Mukeshimana, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources of the Republic of Rwanda
Agriculture is the key driver of poverty reduction in Rwanda. It employs around 70 per cent of the population and provides 91 per cent of the food consumed in the country. The sector also accounts for 70 per cent of export revenue and 32.7 per cent of the GDP. It is characterized by small production units and high population pressure on natural resources. About 80 per cent of the rural population is made up of subsistence farmers who depend mainly on rain fed production (less than 6 per cent of all cultivated land in the country is irrigated).
27 June 2019
