African countries urged to embrace Digital Agriculture to combat climate change effects

Stakeholders have zeroed in on incorporating and pushing for measures which enable farmers to leave with unpredictable weather outcomes and still supply citizens in their respective countries and outside with enough agricultural produce.

The focus is on the impact of climate change on the Agricultural Sector in Africa and how to amplify key messages by partners and stakeholder networks to scale Climate Smart Agriculture from a more resilient present and future for African large and smallholder farmers.

Gracing 'the training of trainers' on Digital Climate Information Advisory Service (DCAS) whose focus is embracing best practices on Smart Agriculture launch at the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environment, Professor Patrick Verkooijen, the Global Centre on Adaptation CEO, expressed determination to see African farmers put into practice drought resilient mechanisms however expensive, to curb the long term climate change effects.

"Climate adaptation measures in action are very expensive but very important, we work with other international organizations to ensure that project climate-smart is a success in Africa," he said.

Agriculture is of strategic importance to the economies of many African countries. Given the high dependence on rain-fed agriculture in Africa, climate and weather patterns highly influence agricultural activities, and consequently food security, nutrition and income for several millions of people, especially among resource-poor rural households.

Experts have argued that actions taken now and in the next few years therefore will be critical for the future of food systems in Africa; therefore harnessing the power of research, technological innovations and digitalization to improve agricultural productivity and strengthen climate resilience practices which have been recognized as one of the potential game changers in addressing many of pressing climate concerns and rural transformation challenges facing Africa today.

The University of Nairobi Acting Associate Vice Chancellor and Horticulturist, Professor Margaret Hutchison while addressing the media at the start of the 3-day training event of Eastern Africa Environment and Climate Change professionals in Nairobi revealed that the University of Nairobi, Faculty of Agriculture received Ksh.400 million donor fund to look at climate resilience in the country through research.

"To escalate that to the national level, we are moving away from research as usual so that we have tangible results, communication strategy has to be responsive to various cadres," she stated. 

Consequently, in line with its knowledge acceleration, agenda-setting, and advocacy functions in climate adaptation; and as the broker for accelerating action and support for adaptation solutions in Africa through its African Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP), Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) in collaboration with the University of Nairobi/Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies (WMI) co-hosted the training session on Digital Climate Information Advisory Service (DCAS) for representatives from ministries of agriculture, related government agencies, public research institutions, farmers organizations, academia, journalist, and non-profit organizations working on climate adaptation for food security in Eastern Africa regions.

The training dubbed "Training of the Trainers" is meant to improve the confidence and capacity of trainees to design and implement Digital Climate Information Advisory Service (DCAS) projects to reach all categories of farmers.

According to Dr. Boniface Akuku, Director of Information Communication and Technology at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization(KARLO), over 65 Agriculture mobile Applications have been developed in Kenya, over 2.5 million farmers in Kenya have been reached with Smart Agriculture Solutions and 100,000 plus farmers have been trained on Digital Solutions.