Climate Change and Women in the Agricultural Sector

5.2 Climate Change and Women in the Agricultural Sector

The first NCCAP, 2013–2017 recognized the rural poor—who rely on ground water for water supply and rainfall for food production—as particularly vulnerable to climate change (NCCAP, 2013). NCCAP 2018–2022 noted that

successful climate actions to improve food security need to include focused interventions to address gender because women account for 75 per cent of the labour in the agriculture sector. Many impoverished women are farmers who

suffer the impacts of climate change more than men because of lack of input on decision making, insecure land tenure and limited access to land, and limited access to livestock and technology (Government of Kenya, 2018).

As part of the government’s gender mainstreaming efforts launched in all ministries, the Ministry of Agriculture has introduced a “gender desk” that recognizes the critical role that women play in agriculture (Ngigi et al., 2015).

The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation has a Climate Change Unit responsible for mainstreaming climate change in the agriculture sector. The unit implements the Kenya Climate-Smart Agriculture Strategy and oversees the implementation of the five-year CSA program that is funded through a USD 250 million loan from the World Bank.

It is important to design strategies that account for women’s perspectives and are aimed at women's needs. How do women prefer to self-organize? How do they like to receive information and through what channels of dissemination? What kinds of information would they make most use of? Ngigi et al. (2015) found that women tend to adopt crop-related strategies, whereas husbands employ livestock- and agroforestry-related strategies. Also, group

membership seems to increase both women and men’s likelihood of adopting climate-smart agricultural practices. NCCAP 2018–2022 notes that farmer field schools are an effective and participatory way to transfer knowledge to (and learn from) women farmers. Gender-aware agricultural extension services are essential to ensure that women

receive, use and benefit from vital information such as climate information services. The information needs to be available in local languages and on the radio to reach those who are illiterate or do not understand the languages used by most television stations.

5.2.1 Women’s Land Ownership

As far as land ownership is concerned in connection to women, climate change and agriculture, existing cultural norms predetermine that land goes to first-born males (Jenny Hill, personal communication, March 26, 2018). Even though the majority of subsistence agricultural management is led by women, they engage in it on the lands of

men. Yet the Kenya National Adaptation Plan 2015–2030 does not address women’s land ownership questions (or gender in general) under the “Land Reforms” section in “Proposed Sectoral Adaptation Actions.”

The sectoral plan, Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and Action Plan for the Environment and Natural Resources in Kenya: 2015–2018, although not entirely devoted to the topic of climate change adaptation, talks about

mainstreaming gender aspects in land policies as an essential strategy and specifies the importance of equitable access by both men and women to land.

The Kenya Climate-Smart Agriculture Strategy 2017–2026 acknowledges achieving gender equality as one of the goals relevant to agricultural development (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, 2017). Furthermore, among its core strategic objectives it highlights “development of inclusive and responsive agricultural value chains” and “establishment of Social Protection and Safety net programmes” to help women, youth and vulnerable groups face the impacts of climate change. However, there is no explicit action to secure women’s land ownership rights.