Climate change triggered by global warming poses a major threat to agricultural systems globally. This phenomenon is characterized by emergence of pests and diseases, extreme weather events, such as prolonged drought, high intensity rains, hailstones and frosts, which are becoming more frequent ultimately impacting negatively to agricultural production including rain-fed tea cultivation. Kenya is predominantly an agricultural based economy, with the tea sector generating about 26% of the total export earnings and about 4% gross domestic product (GDP). In the recent years, however, the country has witnessed unstable trends in tea production associated with climate driven stresses. Toward mitigation and adaptation of climate change, multiple approaches for impact assessment, intensity prediction and adaptation have been advanced in the Kenyan tea sub-sector. Further, pressure on tea breeders to release improved climate-compatible cultivars for the rapidly deteriorating environment has resulted in the adoption of a multitargeted approach seeking to understand the complex molecular regulatory networks associated with biotic and abiotic stresses adaptation and tolerance in tea. Genetic modeling, a powerful tool that assists in breeding process, has also been adopted for selection of tea cultivars for optimal performance under varying climatic conditions. A range of physiological and biochemical responses known to counteract the effects of environmental stresses in most plants that include lowering the rates of cellular growth and net photosynthesis, stomatal closure, and the accumulation of organic solutes such as sugar alcohols, or osmolytes have been used to support breeding programs through screening of new tea cultivars suitable for changing environment. This review describes simulation models combined with high resolution climate change scenarios required to quantify the relative importance of climate change on tea production. In addition, both biodiversity and ecosystem based approaches are described as a part of an overall adaptation strategy to mitigate adverse effects of climate change on tea in Kenya and gaps highlighted for urgent investigations.
Availability is a crucial aspect of wild edible plants (WEPs) consumption by indigenous communities. Understanding the local perception of this availability helps to determine, which contribution WEPs can make to rural communities. We used an integrated participatory approach to investigate important parameters and themes that influenced the perception of availability of woody WEPs. We demonstrate the approach in three communities in Turkana County, Kenya. By availability, we referred to the ease of accessing, harvesting, transporting, and processing WEPs for consumption. We conducted three focus group discussions (FGDs). We asked FGD participants to list, score, and discuss availability. We used logistic regression and mixed-content analysis to identify important parameters and themes, respectively. The most important WEPs were the toothbrush tree (Salvadora persica L.), Indian jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.), and mbamba ngoma (Balanites rotundifolia (Tiegh.) Blatt.). Distance, seasonality, price, and adequacy of harvested WEPs for household consumption were important parameters. Culture and tradition, distribution of WEPs, seasonality, and climate change emerged as important themes. We showed the importance of using an integrated participatory approach when assessing the perception of WEPs’ availability by local communities and could be used in comparable arid and semi-arid areas with semi-nomadic pastoralists across Africa.
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