CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY IMPLEMENTATION GAPS AMONG FARMING COMMUNITIES IN LAIKIPIA COUNTY IN KENYA

Abstract

The study focused on climate change policy implementation gaps among smallholder farmers in Laikipia County in Kenya. Climate change policies were developed by national and county governments to support climate change mitigation and adaptation in order to enhance food security and community resilience. However, little is known about the gaps in implementation of these policies among communities, which are severely affected by impacts of climate change. Using semi-structured household questionnaires, focused group discussion and key informant interviews with a sample of smallholder farmers and stakeholders drawn during community-led initiatives, local administration meetings and agricultural extension workshops in Laikipia County, results show that a wide range of policies on tree planting, water management, forest conservation and riparian and riverine protection were communicated by county and national governments, but only few of the smallholder farmers implemented them, thereby causing a very wide policy-practice gap.