Transforming Livelihoods through Climate Resilient, Low Carbon, Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains in the Lake Region Economic Bloc, Kenya

Kenya is highly vulnerable to climate change and increased climate variability, primarily due to agriculture's central role in the economy. The Lake Victoria Region, comprising 14 counties and collectively known as the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB), is a key agricultural hub. The region is experiencing rising temperatures, more frequent and severe droughts, and increased annual rainfall, leading to flooding and runoff.

Local adaptive capacity remains moderately low, as most smallholder farmers operate on marginal land with scarce resources and lack access to risk mitigation measures. Low agricultural productivity exerts pressure on land and natural resources, prompting cropland expansion and ecosystem degradation, leading to increased emissions from deforestation.

This project aims to promote climate-resilient, low-carbon, environmentally sustainable, and financially viable agricultural value chains by expediting the transfer of technology, knowledge, assets, and services. It emphasises empowering agri-food cooperatives as pivotal agents of rural transformation.   Project activities will focus on enabling local government support for adaptation and mitigation, investing in community-led, sustainable agricultural landscape management and restoration, increasing smallholder farmers' resilience, and improving their market access.

The project builds on outcomes from a previous initiative funded by the GCF Readiness Programme that strengthened adaptation planning capacities.