Adaptation of Smallholder Dairy Farmers in South Western Kenya to the Effects of Climate Change

Despite great potential, Kenyan smallholder dairying faces diminishing land sizes, high input costs, poor extension contacts, non-responsive price policies, and new pests and diseases. Climate change will worsen the situation. This study sought to assess smallholder dairy farmers’ climate change adaptation level in Southwestern Kenya. Adopting Concurrent Fixed Mixed Methods, primary and secondary data was collected. Reports and papers were reviewed for temperature and precipitation data, dairy population, production trends, and farmers’ socio-demographics. A survey questionnaire for climate changes and farmers’ adaptiveness was administered to 367 smallholder dairy household heads with 10 years’ experience, obtained by multi-stage sampling from 4 sub-counties. Key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with farmer groups, heads of research, government departments and livestock farms; and the old that were obtained purposively based on dairying experience. Percentages were used for climate change effect on smallholder dairying and farmers’ adaptation. Principal component analysis was used for factors with great influence on respondents’ climate change adaptiveness; while one proportion Z-score test was used for significant differences between adapters and non-adapters (p < 0.05). Flexible and systematic Framework Approach was used for qualitative data analysis by cases and 5 themes. Findings indicated that despite Migori County’s great dairying potential, climate changes have partly hindered full exploitation. Temperatures and rainfall increased slightly in 30 years; with feeds and water diminishing, and resistant diseases and parasites emerging. Upon ranking, pasture loss (42.2%); over-grazing (41.1%); cattle under-feeding (39.5%); and increasing cattle diseases and pests (61.0%) had high impact; while drying water sources (37.1%) had moderate effect. Farmers’ adaptiveness included mixed farming (96.5%); non-intensive dairying (95.1%); establishing own fodder (92.4%); rearing crossbred dairy cattle (87.7%); reducing dairy herd size to 2 (92.9%); relying mainly on household labour (94.6%); and maintaining a 10-year increasing trend in milk-income (68.4%). Z-scores indicated significant differences between adapters and non-adopters (p < 0.05). Civil societies, academic and research institutions should intensify farmer advisory services to complement government extension.