Browsing by Subject "Taita-Taveta County"

Agriculture is associated with one-third of global land use, and it is responsible for 21% of total greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, food demand is going to increase, driven by population growth. Climate change adaptation and mitigation interventions in agriculture are therefore increasingly central to address soil degradation, loss of biodiversity and food insecurity, and Regenerative Agriculture is one of the alternatives proposed to the current agri-food system. Understanding the interlinkages between regenerative agriculture and positive deviance among smallholder farmers in the Taita-Taveta County, Kenya, can be beneficial to align agricultural practices with regenerative agriculture interventions that aim at adapting and mitigating farming activities to climate change, and thus can provide information to decision makers on how to support farmers in this transition. Key informant interviews (11 informants) and a household survey (96 respondents) were used to collect data. A spatial analysis allowed a comparison between three distinct agro-ecological zones, highlighting potential differences in the adoption of regenerative agriculture techniques and the strategies implemented by positive deviants. By studying how geographical factors influence the adoption of agricultural practices, this thesis situates in the field of human geography. The results suggest that both regenerative agriculture adoption and positive deviance are highly context-dependent. Positive deviants typically shifted from subsistence agriculture to high-value crops. By engaging with contract farming, they accessed reliable markets, financing, and inputs, and received private extension services. In the lowlands, positive deviants excelled at coping with water scarcity and mitigating the effects of climate change, while in the highlands they strategically ventured into horticulture at a commercial level. Overall, while regenerative agriculture practices played a role in climate-resilient agriculture, their adoption was not clearly linked with positive deviance.