AGRA rolls out ClimVAT tool to map climate risks facing farmers

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has rolled out a new digital climate vulnerability assessment platform in Kenya aimed at helping policymakers and agricultural planners identify areas most vulnerable to climate change and design targeted interventions for farmers.

The Climate Vulnerability Assessment Tool (ClimVAT) was unveiled during a national stakeholder domestication workshop held in Eldoret on May 19 and 20, 2026, bringing together national and county government officials, researchers, civil society actors and development partners.

According to AGRA, the platform combines satellite-derived climate data, soil information and socio-economic indicators to generate high-resolution maps showing climate risks at national and sub-county levels.

The organisation said the tool is expected to strengthen climate-resilient agricultural planning and improve decision-making across Kenya’s different agro-ecological zones.

“For the first time, agricultural planners at national and county levels can see, down to sub-county resolution, exactly where climate risk is highest, why it is high, and which communities are least equipped to cope,” AGRA said in a statement.

The platform analyses three key areas, including climate exposure, agricultural sensitivity and adaptive capacity.

Climate exposure focuses on historical and projected trends in temperature, rainfall variability, drought frequency and extreme weather events, while agricultural sensitivity assesses which crops, livestock systems and farming communities are most vulnerable under different climate scenarios.

The third component evaluates communities’ ability to cope with shocks through available financial resources, infrastructure, institutional support and social capital.

Speaking during the workshop, Kindie Tesfaye Fantaye, Head of Climate Adaptation and Resilience at AGRA, said the platform offers Kenya a comprehensive climate intelligence system capable of guiding agricultural investments.

“What ClimVAT offers Kenya is something we have never had before at this scale: a single, integrated platform that tells you not just where climate risk is highest, but why it is high, whether it is driven by low rainfall, soil degradation, poor market access, or weak institutional support,” he said.

“For AGRA, this is about ensuring that every investment in Kenyan agriculture is grounded in the best available climate evidence, and that no vulnerable community is overlooked.”

AGRA Kenya Country Programs Lead Edward Agaba said the platform would help shift adaptation planning from broad national assumptions to localised interventions.

“Kenya’s climate adaptation response has for too long been shaped by aggregated national data that masks the lived realities of specific communities. ClimVAT allows us to move from broad assumptions to precise, localised interventions,” he said.

“When we can see that a particular sub-county has high climate exposure and fragile soils we can design programmes that speak directly to that reality. That kind of precision saves lives and protects livelihoods.”

Participants at the workshop also received training on how to navigate the platform, interpret vulnerability indices and apply the data in policy and investment decisions.

Patrick Kebaya, Climate Change Coordinator at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives, said the platform would support implementation of Kenya’s climate commitments.

“Kenya has made ambitious commitments under its Nationally Determined Contributions and the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Strategy. But commitments only become results when backed by evidence and ClimVAT provides useful data towards this,” he stated.

AGRA said the Kenya rollout follows similar workshops held in Ghana and Tanzania and forms part of a wider continental expansion that will also cover Uganda and Zambia.

The organisation noted that the initiative is aimed at building an Africa-wide climate intelligence network to support smallholder farmers and strengthen food systems against worsening climate shocks.