From evidence to county action: Making agricultural research work for counties
At a policy dialogue in Kisumu, national and county governments, researchers and partners explored how evidence on soil management and climate-smart irrigation can inform county policies, plans and investments in Kenya.
- agricultural policies
- Climate-Smart Agriculture
- irrigation
- Kenya
- Soil health
From evidence to county action: Making agricultural research work for counties
At a policy dialogue in Kisumu, national and county governments, researchers and partners explored how evidence on soil management and climate-smart irrigation can inform county policies, plans and investments in Kenya.
Kenya has considerable research and policy experience to draw on when it comes to managing soils, improving irrigation and helping agriculture respond to a changing climate. The challenge is connecting that knowledge to the systems and decisions that shape what happens in different counties, where national priorities have to meet local needs, institutional arrangements and the realities of implementation.
For agricultural research to make a difference, it eventually has to find its way into a decision: what a county chooses to invest in, what an extension officer recommends, or what a farmer decides to do on the ground. That connection is rarely automatic, which is why a two-day Policy Dialogue on Sustainable Soil Nutrient Management and Climate-Smart Irrigation, convened through the Innovation in Sustainability, Policy, Adaptation, and Resilience (iSPARK) project at Fairways Hotel in Kisumu earlier in the month, bringing together national and county government representatives, researchers, technical institutions, academia and development partners to look at how emerging evidence could inform the policies, plans and investments that guide agricultural action.