Agricultural Sector Development Support Program (ASDSP)
Updated on: Oct 19, 2020
Weather plays an integral role in Agriculture. As such, weather forecasting and scenario planning is important to enable farmers to plan adequately for the seasons.
In order to help farmers plan and increase agricultural productivity, the County department of agriculture, ASDSP Programme, in partnership with the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), and the meteorological department of Kenya, convened a two-day training on the participatory Scenario planning (PSP).
The programme, ASDSP, puts a lot of emphasis on Participatory Scenario Planning - as a powerful tool for the farmers, government and all stakeholders. The PSP training has helped the ward agricultural officers interpret the weather information and advise accordingly on weather patterns.
The Kenya meteorological department in the county led by the county Director of meteorological services Mr.Njiru were present to equip all the participants with the seasonal weather focusing information starting with the October-November-December short season which experiences short rains.
The department has also given maize seed, drought resistant avocado and mango tree seedlings across the county, as the rains are expected to start in the third week of October, this year.
ASDSP aims at promoting commercialization of the three priority value chains which are maize, dairy and sheep and goats. This will be done through capacity building of the value chain actors to increase agricultural productivity. The programme also lays a lot of emphasis on capacity building of the service providers in the various sectors.
The two days training was officially closed by the Ag. CECM Agriculture, Mr. Njega Kahiro who emphasized that the officers should disseminate the weather advisories to the farmer in the easiest and most accessible way. That way, Mr. Njenga said, will help farmers understand when and how to prepare their farms and crops.
The weather analysis can also help other departments in planning other development projects like building of roads and rehabilitation of boreholes at a time when there is low rainfall, Mr. Njenga added.
Various public barazas, farm visits and broadcast media will be used to pass the weather advisories to the farmers.
In order to help farmers plan and increase agricultural productivity, the County department of agriculture, ASDSP Programme, in partnership with the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), and the meteorological department of Kenya, convened a two-day training on the participatory Scenario planning (PSP).
The programme, ASDSP, puts a lot of emphasis on Participatory Scenario Planning - as a powerful tool for the farmers, government and all stakeholders. The PSP training has helped the ward agricultural officers interpret the weather information and advise accordingly on weather patterns.
The Kenya meteorological department in the county led by the county Director of meteorological services Mr.Njiru were present to equip all the participants with the seasonal weather focusing information starting with the October-November-December short season which experiences short rains.
The department has also given maize seed, drought resistant avocado and mango tree seedlings across the county, as the rains are expected to start in the third week of October, this year.
ASDSP aims at promoting commercialization of the three priority value chains which are maize, dairy and sheep and goats. This will be done through capacity building of the value chain actors to increase agricultural productivity. The programme also lays a lot of emphasis on capacity building of the service providers in the various sectors.
The two days training was officially closed by the Ag. CECM Agriculture, Mr. Njega Kahiro who emphasized that the officers should disseminate the weather advisories to the farmer in the easiest and most accessible way. That way, Mr. Njenga said, will help farmers understand when and how to prepare their farms and crops.
The weather analysis can also help other departments in planning other development projects like building of roads and rehabilitation of boreholes at a time when there is low rainfall, Mr. Njenga added.
Various public barazas, farm visits and broadcast media will be used to pass the weather advisories to the farmers.
