A recent visit to the village gave me hope, for once, that there may be better harvest this year. This part of Kisumu County has fertile soil, but usually messed up by erratic rain patterns. Small-scale farmers who would plant by the calendar now look up the sky to decide when to. Sometimes they win. Other times they lose.
Galleries are no longer a feature in homesteads. The inadequate harvests are also courtesy of failure to till arable land, just to reduce likely losses incurred in crop failure often occasioned by prolonged drought, or floods that sweep crops in farms. This is a cause of food insecurity among poverty stricken rural populations.
As the climate problem escalates in Africa, new commitments to increase adaptation funding are made, with commendable efforts from developed nations, though not enough to help communities hardest hit by fires, floods and drought adapt to the problems that cannot be solved in the twinkling of an eye. A November 2024 UN Adaptation Gap Report dubbed “Come hell and high water” outlines efforts by developed countries between 2021 and 2022 as rising from $22 billion to $28 billion.
Last year, during the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan, a new collective quantified goal (NCQG) of $300 billion annually by 2035, was arrived at, part of which should go to climate adaptation. It tripled previous target of $100 billion yearly meant to support developing countries increase climate action, but, again, implementation was a struggle, with geopolitics and issues that led to inadequate climate action in the global South.
The Global Centre on Adaptation has previously stated that “Africa needs not less than $100 billion annually to significantly increase climate adaptation efforts”. Currently, the continent receives an estimated $11 billion annually only. In early 2025, countries submitted their second revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to deal with the climate crisis. Part of the NCQG is expected to fund these NDCs.
Meanwhile, rural folks know little to do with the global climate talks and the finances involved. They also grapple with loss and damage from prolonged drought and floods. Communities in arid and semi-arid areas lose livestock, almost every year, to floods that are always preceded by prolonged drought. Since the disasters are foreseeable, financing must quit being reactive but well thought out for communities’ stability. The communities must be enlightened on the climate crisis, for them to stop blaming God and fate without being part of the solution.
Nations long to make long-term weather forecasts accessible to rural communities, for timely planting and action to reduce the risks. Again, the hoe is tired and not making the desired improvement in food security in Africa. The scale of mechanised agriculture must be increased and spread further down to your usual smallholder farmer. Also in need of latest technology and equipment is that pastoralist, fisher-folk, informal food dealers, and all who are crucial to Africa’s food system.
The developed nations should hear the cries of these people whose voices appear faint at the global talks, but who are responsible for up to 80 per cent of all agricultural output that feeds their nations. The funds must give real projects, like solar-powered irrigation, seed banks stocked with indigenous drought-resistant varieties, and extension services ensuring farmers grow more with less water. Mobile apps showing early warning alerts must not be for a select few. Nutrition, a pillar to communities’ health, needs even more focus, because it is our wealth.
Evidence of these struggles is in farms, kitchens, empty stores and hungry communities. The globe must act fast because in Africa, food is the first line of defense against the climate chaos.
By Lynet Otieno