Symposium

CA-Hub Symposium Introduction

Although Conservation Agriculture (CA) uptake levels are still relatively low in Kenya (Mkomwa et al., 2017), the use of CA is more prevalent in commercial than small scale agriculture, whereby around 10 large scale commercial farmers manage 72% of the close to 30,000 ha under CA in the country. This can perhaps primarily be attributed to the very complex smallholder farming system and the factors influencing it, such as land tenure, lack of resources and infrastructure among others, demanding a special approach and skills to empower and adapt these farmers and their systems to CA.

The introduction and promotion of CA in Kenya have been supported by development partners, not-for-profit organizations coordinated under the CA Hub Kenya, and the government. The CA Hub Kenya is a consortium of nearly thirty (30) organizations, doing work around sustainable farming and building partnerships for effective delivery and synergies. Increasing interest and support to CA by the Kenyan government was expressed through a declaration made in April 2018 during the first CA Kenya Symposium to scale Conservation Agriculture adoption by over 10% of the farming population in Kenya.

While the CA concept has been generally endorsed and accepted by different practitioners including those from research, extension, and learning institutions, there remains significant challenges to the integration of CA concepts and practices in their developmental programs within the existing agricultural extension, education, research, and farming community systems. The scaling of CA is lower than the potential commercial, environmental, and social benefits it is poised to deliver, and the gap needs to be demystified and addressed.

About the Symposium

The Conservation Agriculture Conference 2025, organized by the by the CA Hub Kenya hosted by the African Conservation Tillage Network, brings together key CA stakeholders to interact, synthesize, and share CA best practices and provoke strategic thinking on how to collaboratively promote and scale the adoption of the CA technologies, inputs, practices and services.

The symposium aims to spur conversations on Conservation agriculture, deepen the progresses already made by different actors in addition to addressing the challenges that may still exist and taking BOLD STEPS that will enable farmers take up the CA practises and help build sustainable food systems in Kenya.

Symposium Objectives

The overall objective of the symposium is to bring together CA stakeholders (farmers, advisory/extension staff, researchers, academia, policymakers, inputs/machinery manufacturers, and suppliers), to interact, synthesize, and share CA best practices and provoke strategic thinking on how to collaboratively catalyse the scaling up and reaping the benefits from the adoption of the CA technologies, inputs, practices and services.

Specific Objectives

  1. To share evidence of best practices from small, medium, and large–scale farmers to exemplify the relevance and urgency of CA now.

  2. To demystify and challenge the CA adoption data for Kenya, ascertain the root causes, and support formulation of corrective interventions.

  3. To probe key interventions, including – extension and capacity building, mechanization services and digitalization, policy support, research for development, financing/credit, and markets - to catalyse the scaling and mainstreaming of CA into Kenya’s Government and County programs and strategies.

Expected Symposium Outcomes

  1. Enhanced understanding of the Conservation Agriculture root causes and opportunities

  2. Strategic recommendations to address barriers to wide-scale adoption of CA in Kenya

  3. New and strengthened partnerships for ushering CA adoption

  4. Summarised outcomes to guide action and advocacy for CA

Get in Touch

CA Hub Kenya Secretariat
C/O African Conservation Tillage Network
P.O Box 10375 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya.
KALRO - NARL, Waiyaki Way, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254 20 8076064, Fax: +254 0412013604
Email: info@act-africa.org

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