Synergies and trade-offs of selected climate smart agriculture practices in Irish potato farming, Kenya

Abstract Research on and disseminating Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices has led to increased awareness and farmers’ capacity to develop resilient agricultural production systems for sustainable livelihoods and food security while addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation. Thus, there is a potential in gaining valuable insight into how Irish potato smallholder farmers should respond to current and future climate risks. However, studies exploring and linking expert opinion on synergies and trade-offs in adapting the CSA practices are limited. This study integrated qualitative and quantitative data from 22 expert surveys and semi-structured questionnaires to answer the following objectives: 1) Which top five CSA practices are currently used by Irish potato farmers and which ones are preferred by experts in response to climate change adaptation in Kenya? 2) How do the selected CSA practices perform in Irish potato farming in Kenya? 3) Which synergies and trade-offs occur upon implementation of these CSA practices? The study found that CSA practices most preferred by both experts and farmers are improved crop varieties, efficient use of agrochemicals, early land preparation, diversified crop production, efficient use of inorganic fertilizer, irrigation and changing planting dates. These selected CSA practices indicated the productivity pillar to be the best performing CSA pillar synergistically while trade-offs to occur across CSA pillars. These findings can inform different potato value chain stakeholders on the synergies and trade-off dynamics associated with adopting CSA practices for climate change adaptation. In conclusion, while CSA practices are perceived as essential, most preferred CSA practices are focused on increased production and adaptation, while mitigation goals receive less attention. The findings of this study provide an important basis for recommendation to farmers and policymakers. This study calls for sustainable and innovative ways that help to upscale the selected CSA practices in Irish potato farming in Kenya and beyond.


PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
In recent years, climate change has adversely impacted Kenya's agriculture and thus affected the livelihood of people depending on agriculture. Unpredicted rainfall patterns, rising temperatures, floods, droughts and water scarcity have impacted food production systems. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) has emerged as one of the solutions to the changing climate. Productivity, adaptation and mitigation are important CSA pillars necessary to adjust to the changing scenario. Synergies and trade-offs from CSA pillars have been studied before but not specifically related to growing Irish potatoes. This study contributes to the literature by considering Irish potato as it contributes to food security, income generation and its promotion in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. change adaptation. In conclusion, while CSA practices are perceived as essential, most preferred CSA practices are focused on increased production and adaptation, while mitigation goals receive less attention. The findings of this study provide an important basis for recommendation to farmers and policymakers. This study calls for sustainable and innovative ways that help to upscale the selected CSA practices in Irish potato farming in Kenya and beyond.

Introduction
Agriculture is recognized globally as a highly vulnerable sector to climate change and the risks from climatic variations pose an imminent danger to the food security and sustainability of livelihoods (Singh et al., 2021). Globally, Irish potato ranks as the world's fourth most produced food crop after wheat, rice and maize (Chapman, 2012;Okello et al., 2016) and its production is prone to climatic variations. The world's top potato producing regions are China leading with an average annual production of 99.1 million tons followed by the European Union producing 56.2 million tons. In the third position, India produces 48.6 million tons. Africa has an area estimate of 1.9 million hectares (ha) under Irish potato which yields 26 million tons (FAOSTAT, 2018). In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Egypt is the leading potato-producing country with 4.9 million tons, followed by Algeria, 4.65 million tons. In the third position is South Africa producing a capacity of 2.47 million tons. In comparison, Kenya is ranked in the fifth position, with an estimated 1.87 million tons harvested annually in 217,315 ha (FAOSTAT (2018). Production of Irish potato as one of the main crop of the group of root and tuber crops has been expanding in Kenya due to its economic benefits and promotion of the value chain by the Kenyan government (Kangogo et al., 2020). Irish potato contributes to poverty alleviation through income generation to an estimated 800,000 farmers directly involved in its production in Kenya (Muthoni et al., 2017). Irish potato value chain employs over 2.5 million Kenyans as market agents, transporters, vendors, processors, vendors and retailers (Okello et al., 2016).
Nevertheless, the net effects of climate change on Irish potatoes will either have positive or negative effects depending on the specific production regions and the ability of farmers to adapt production practices to changing conditions (Ndegwa et al., 2020). Several approaches for adapting and mitigating climate change effects on agricultural production have been developed and recommended. One such approach is Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), which has gained traction in most African countries (Lipper et al., 2014). CSA is based on three interim goals: increasing agricultural productivity and incomes sustainably and equitably, creating healthy food systems and farming livelihoods to become more resilient and minimizing agricultural greenhouse emissions (Gurung et al., 2016). CSA promotes the efficient use of land, water and other environmental resources to attain higher yields, put more carbon in the soil, greater adaptation to prolonged dry spells and unpredictable rainfall seasons. CSA has shown to be highly promising, combining the advantage of sustainable increases in agricultural production, transformation and growth of robust agricultural and food security systems. Thus, whether technology is CSA, is based on its impact on these outcomes and agricultural interventions that meet these goals are considered "climatesmart" (FAO, 2013). Additionally, CSA approach leads to reduced agricultural emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), leading to achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 of addressing climate action (Abegunde et al., 2020;Ahmad et al., 2020).
Improving uptake and intensification of farm-level utilization of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) strategies among farmers is essential to develop resilient production systems for sustainable livelihoods and food security while addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation. Synergies and tradeoffs are characteristics of climate-smart agricultural interventions. Many farm-based management practices and technologies deliver two or three of the three climate-smart benefits (Kurgat et al., 2020). According to Mainali et al. (2018), synergy is an interaction among two or more actions, which will lead to an impact greater or less than the sum of individual effects. Therefore, synergies are positive outcomes, while tradeoffs are negative outcomes. CSA practices are not supposed to be alternative targets but parallel outputs of CSA to Irish potato farmers in Kenya. Although trade-offs in the three pillars of CSA (productivity, adaptation and mitigation) are inevitable, achieving adaptation and mitigation in Irish potato production without compromising its production and availability potential is still a huge challenge to policymakers and researchers.
A holistic approach is critical to achieve the maximum potential benefits of the CSA practices and reduce the trade-offs from the CSA practice. The trade-off in implementing the CSA practices varies and may affect both the farmers' output and the environment. Irish potato farmers strive to get as much production from their harvest as possible, which may be affected by the type of practices or input they use in their farms. Combining different technologies can increase the farm's productivity, hence increasing the farm income (Mwongera et al., 2017). However, the adoption of some technologies can increase labour use, emissions and pollution, leading to trade-offs (Klapwijk et al., 2014). Thus, CSA requires planning to address trade-offs and synergies between productivity, adaptation and mitigation.
In search of locally appropriate options to increase farming system's resilience and livelihoods to climate variability, trade-off analysis has emerged as a key process to assess agricultural innovations' suitability (Shikuku et al., 2015). In Irish potato production, there are several possible adaptation options for managing moderate to extreme climate risks. Changes in crop management practices, general field management, farm risk reduction, soil conservation and information access practices are essential in improving agricultural adaptability to climate change (Muthoni et al., 2017). These options also increase crop yield, boost production efficiencies and net farm incomes and where possible, minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Many of them have successfully increased production, revenue and established the resilience of agricultural communities in many ways (Gurung et al., 2016).
Although CSA strives to simultaneously improve the three pillars of production, adaptation and climate change mitigation, it acknowledges that not every recommended practice applied in every place can achieve such a triple win. In Kenya, there are knowledge gaps on how Irish potato farmers can achieve synergies and minimize trade-offs in implementing various CSA interventions. There is thus a need for multi-stakeholder analysis of possible strategies to upscale CSA technologies. Therefore, this study sought to address this knowledge gap by undertaking synergies and trade-off analysis in adapting CSA technologies in the context of smallholder Irish potato farmers in Kenya from the experts' perspective. The study will contribute to the scanty literature on expert's opinion analysis in climate change, adaptation and mitigation in Irish potato production in Kenya.

Identifying CSA practices
First, in identifying the relevant CSA practices among Irish potato farmers, a desktop search involving searching for information online was done. This was based on secondary data collected from online databases including Science Direct, Scopus, RefSeek and CAB abstracts. Additionally, we scoped for information using an iterative process in published literature from selected international institutions involved directly and indirectly in climate-smart agriculture. These included Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) programme under the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR) and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).
In the preliminary search, 258 articles were selected from the search engines and databases output, 78 articles identified through other sources such as reports were also selected. The study also reviewed dissertations approved between the years 2009 and 2020. After limiting to articles with full text, the total number reduced to 75 which were then reviewed; however, non-research articles and dissertations which were not available were omitted. Finally, the 45 articles that were found eligible and relevant for the review were selected for the study. Their contents were thoroughly reviewed to determine the CSA practices being used for climate adaptation in Irish potato farming.
The list of CSA practices retrieved from the literature review was sent to different Climate Change and Value Chain Experts. The list was assessed, and 19 suitable CSA practices were identified for the three CSA pillars based on five CSA strategies namely Crop management practices, General field management practices, Farm risk reduction practices, Soil conservation practices and Information access practices as in Table 1.

Expert's selection
Purposive sampling method was used to select 28 experts for this study as there was no consensus required on the number of participants required since this was a Delphi study (Roy et al., 2014). The following inclusion criteria were used to select the experts involved in this study: (i) Individuals who have been directly involved in Irish potato research, expansion, management and marketing for at least 5 years (ii) Individuals who have been engaged or consulted for a minimum of 10 cumulative years in agricultural policymaking in the potato value chain within the government or private sector.
(iii) Individuals from academic, non-governmental organizations (NGO) and government involved in Climate Smart Agriculture potato value chain.
Out of the 28 CSA experts selected, 22 responded to the invitation to join the study and completed the questionnaire and the interviews. Six of the selected CSA experts declined, citing time constraints, resulting in a response rate of 78.6%. Table 2 shows the distribution of experts from various institutions engaged in the study.

Evaluating expert's opinions
Expert elicitation was done through semi-structured questionnaires and interviews. This was to assess the subjective judgments of experts working in Kenya, who were familiar with the subject on technical topics at a given point in time (Hagerman et al., 2010). The data collection process took place between September and October 2020 via email, google forms, zoom and telephone calls. The Delphi online survey was implemented to enhance questionnaire performance by facilitating the process and saving expert's time. The combination of the web-based survey platform and the questionnaire simplified statistical analysis and avoided the requirements of paper-based surveys, restricted data input and computational errors often recorded in Delphi studies (Cam et al., 2002) Questionnaires were prepared in English using Google forms and consisted of the following structure: (a) Personal details (with an emphasis on the professional activity and organization of the participants).
(b) Contribution of selected CSA practices to CSA pillars.
(c) The extent of implementation of the CSA adaptation practices.
When returned, the questionnaires that included missing values, experts were contacted to provide the values at fault. In case experts did not reply to this request, incomplete values were imputed using the following rule: the most common answer from the experts was used. If an expert did not respond to any question for a given CSA practice, no values were imputed. Incomplete entries were only imputed when the expert responded to the questions for a given CSA practice, but certain values were missing.
Expert opinion is an established method for gathering knowledge in the absence of data (Kuster et al., 2015). However, the methodology of this study was subject to some limitations; the study was based on expert opinions on selected CSA practices as it was impossible to work with farmers due to COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Since the study was based on semistructured questionnaires and interviews with the experts, the results were limited to expert knowledge and opinions; a greater number of experts would have increased the study power; however, this was difficult to achieve because of the limited number of experts in the field who were contacted and responded to the survey. Further, this study looked at the short-term synergies and trade-offs at the farm level rather than the long term based on the data generated from the experts.

Ranking of CSA practices
All the 19 listed CSA practices were put forward for scoring exercise to get the top 5 practices both currently used by the farmers and those preferred by the experts. The study compared each CSA practice's overall performance based on each practice's totals garnered from the scoring process. The ranking was based on the average points of the total score per practice per rank divided by the number of experts. The practice with the highest points was ranked number 1, and the one with the least points was ranked last. Experts were asked to select the top 5 CSA practices out of the 19 listed CSA practices based on their perceptions and priorities in terms of the 3 CSA pillars. The scoring was also based on the changes experts have observed on various CSA practices and their knowledge due to farmers' adopting the CSA practices over the past 10 years. In each top 5 rankings, 5 points were used to rate each practice. Any time a practice was selected in rank 1, it got 5 points and for rank 5 it got 1 point, sequentially. Each practice's total points were then calculated by multiplying the number of responses in selection by points per rank. The result was then averaged by dividing the results by the total number of participating experts. The practices were then ranked with number one getting the highest average point and the last one garnering the least points (Appendix 1 and 2).

Synergies and trade-offs analysis
Experts were asked to score the CSA practices they selected within the three CSA pillars to assess how each practice performs in Irish potato value chain. The data collection entailed scoring the top 5 practices expert preferred using a 3-point Likert scale for the performance level: high = 3, medium = 2 and low = 1. Each practice's total points were calculated by multiplying the number of responses in selection by points per performance. The result was then averaged by dividing by the number of participating experts. The average scores were then normalized into values ranging between 0 and 1 where, with the value 0 meaning low contribution to the pillar and 1 high contribution to the pillar (Appendix 3). The normalized averages were then rated weight range of low (0-0.33), medium (0.34-0.66) and high (0.67-1.00) pillar performances, respectively. The result was then plotted in a spider graph to visualize and analyze how each practice selected was building the synergies and trade-offs to the CSA pillars The data management and preparation for analysis were using SPSS Version 26.0 statistical software.  Figure 1 presents the top 5 CSA practices most preferred by experts. These practices included improved crop varieties (rank 1), efficient use of inorganic fertilizers (rank 2), efficient use of agrochemicals (rank 3), early land preparation (rank 4) and diversified crop production (rank 5).

Expert preference versus farmer current top 5 CSA practices
On the other hand, the top 5 farmer ranked CSA practices included improved crop varieties (rank 1), irrigation (rank 2), efficient use of inorganic fertilizer (rank 3), early land preparation (rank 4) and changing planting dates (rank 5) in Figure 2. It was noted that the experts preferred the 5 top practices because of availability of information; simplicity in their implementation; their ability to better address the factors limiting production; capability of helping farmers get high returns on their investments; and their resilience to climate change effects. The top five CSA  practices selected are among the priority practices being scaled in the west and east sub-Saharan countries such as Ethiopia and Nigeria (Juana et al., 2013;Onoja et al., 2019).

CSA pillar(s) performance for expert preference and current farmer top 5 CSA practices
The study assessed the overall pillar performance for each CSA practice based on the average points per pillar.

Productivity pillar
The use of improved crop varieties, efficient use of inorganic fertilizers, early land preparations, diversified crop production and efficient use of agrochemicals (pesticides, fungicides and herbicides) were assessed highly for productivity pillar, making them high contributors to agricultural production. In contrast, changing planting date and irrigation had medium weights (Figure 3).

Adaptation pillar
Diversified crop production, early land preparations, efficient use of inorganic fertilizers, improved crop varieties and changing planting dates were evaluated high for adaptation pillar, hence highly efficient to cushion Irish potato against effects of climate change. In contrast, efficient use of agrochemicals and irrigation had a medium weight making them efficient for adaptation ( Figure 4).

Mitigation pillar
The results further indicated improved crop varieties, diversified crop production, irrigation, changing planting dates practices to offer high mitigation for climate change effects to Irish potato production. Simultaneously, the efficient use of agrochemicals and efficient use of inorganic fertilizers showed medium mitigation to CC effects ( Figure 5). However, early land preparation showed a lower weight of 0.18. Similarly, Hengsdijk and Verhagen (2013) confirmed that mitigation could be achieved through efficient use of fertilizer, irrigation, rotation of potato with crops that have high residual carbon biomass and efficient use of pesticides.

Synergies and trade-offs analysis among selected CSA practices
In this study, low weights, i.e, ≤0.33 in pillar performances, were considered to cause trade-offs, while medium-high weights ≥0.34 showed synergies. However, the practices that had weights ≥0.67 were deemed to provide high synergies. Overall, all the practices were considered to create synergies among the three pillars of productivity, adaptation and mitigation except early land preparation which created a trade-off in the mitigation pillar (Table 3). The result showed that the productivity pillar performed best with the implementation of the selected CSA practices. The productivity pillar was highly synergetic, followed by the adaptation and mitigation pillar (Table 3).  The study showed that improved crop varieties resulted in high synergies across all the CSA pillars. This could be attributed to the fact that farmers are assured that improved crop varieties produce the highest yields, are adapted to the harsh environmental conditions and reduce the amount of agrochemicals such as pesticides and fungicide significantly as most of the improved seeds are pests and disease resistant as compared to local seeds. The findings were consistent with previous studies (Nigussie et al., 2016;Solomon et al., 2019), who found that improved seeds performed better and were more adaptable compared to local potato seeds. Similarly, Schulte-Geldermann (2013) and Aheisibwe et al. (2016) found that low potato productivity in SSA resulted from low-quality seeds that farmers use thereby reducing the potential yield that can be realized. Devaux et al. (2014) noted that promotion and adoption of improved seeds are a potential approach towards solving the loss and improving yields for African farmers hence reducing food insecurity. On the contrary, studies by Ajayi et al. (2007), Okello et al. (2016) and Wainaina et al. (2014) argued that improved crop varieties increase agrochemicals use such as pesticides, herbicides and inorganic fertilizers if not complemented with natural resources management technologies that boost soil fertility, reduce pest and weed prevalence causing trade-offs rather than a synergy in mitigation pillar. This indicates that a trade-off exists between crop productivity and pollution mitigation through agrochemical use emissions. Wainaina et al. (2014) further suggest improving soil fertility using organic fertilizer for better and sustainable production from improved crop variety use.
Most African agricultural soils (65%) are characterized by poor soil quality due to soil erosions and acidification (Obalum et al., 2012;Shamie et al., 2015;Tully et al., 2015). This has led to the continuous use of inorganic fertilizers to provide immediate soil fertility to crops. Continuous excess use of agrochemicals such as inorganic fertilizers has been found to cause soil toxicity, deficiencies in some major and minor nutrients causing deterioration of soil quality and emissions to the environment (Abera et al., 2018;NING et al., 2017;Schulte-Geldermann, 2013). Furthermore, the use of fertilizers alone has been found not adequate to boost crop yield; however, it should always be combined with organic fertilizer for sustainable production and reverse soil degradation (Abera et al., 2018;Agegnehu et al., 2014;Shamie et al., 2015). Several empirical studies also show that farmers do not adhere to agrochemicals prescriptions because of high pests and disease infestation (Muthoni et al., 2017;Singbo, 2012;Verhagen et al., 2014). In the current study, efficient use of agrochemicals was found to be a major challenge among farmers in Kenya. The experts explained that farmers always do not follow the recommended application criteria of agrochemicals use. They elaborated that most farmers believe that a more concentrated solution in their spray quickly kills and eradicates pests and diseases than the prescribed dosage. The increased use of agrochemicals translates to increased emissions in the manufacture and transport of agrochemicals resulting in trade-offs.
Efficient use of inorganic fertilizers indicated high synergies for the productivity and adaptation pillar. However, the degree of synergy for mitigation was relatively lower than other pillars. This finding is consistent with that of Verhagen et al. (2014) who found that efficient use of inorganic fertilizers had a drawback associated with highly degraded soils. The study further notes that increased productivity of Irish potato in the Rift valley region requires more energy-demanding inputs such as nitrogen fertilizer and energy, which increases the GHG emission per unit land area required and thereby affecting the mitigation pillar.
In the case of early land preparation, the experts revealed that CSA practices benefit farmers in various ways. They noted that the practice leads to exposure of pests that burrow themselves into the soil because of the hot sun to reduce the menace, reduced effects of weed re-growth quickly after ploughing (reducing herbicide use), better land preparation as compared to when it is raining. Furthermore, farmers are likely to plant on time to maximize on rainfall for better production. This helps farmers to adapt well to climate change and variability in the potato growing areas. However, early land preparation resulted in a trade-off in the mitigation pillar. Experts stated that since land preparation involves tillage of the land, this causes carbon stored in the soil as organic matter to respire, causing carbon dioxide emissions and thus affecting the amount of soil carbon storage. The trade-off result is well documented in previous studies such as that of Mwongera et al. (2017), who found that it is impossible to cultivate potato without tilling the land, which in turn influences soil carbon stock. Potato cultivation requires fine tilth and continuous earthing up for high-quality and bigger potatoes.
Diversified crop production as a CSA practice provided high synergies across all the three CSA pillars. The experts highlighted some of the benefits of diversified crop production such as increasing biodiversity, reducing vulnerability to various weather effects, reducing total crop failure to farmers and enhancing food sufficiency among potato growing households. Moreover, crop diversity also reduces soil erosion, reduces pest and disease problems and crop failure due to wilting due to hot temperatures. These results were in line with previous studies (Lin, 2011;Truscott et al., 2009) which found that crop diversity has proved to increase resilience and biodiversity on farms, improve soil fertility and control pests and diseases. Other similar studies in Tanzania and Zimbabwe revealed that crop diversity results in significant improvement in crop productivity, income from crops and food security indicators, as measured by food consumption scores and household dietary diversity scores (Kimaro et al., 2019;Kurgat et al., 2020;Makate et al., 2016). However, a major challenge exists among smallholder farmers in Kenya with respect to crop diversification attributed to the land size under farm production. Majority of farmers possess small parcels of land, while on the other hand, they wish to get more yields and returns on investments. In the case of potato production, most farmers find it hard to apportion part of their parcel of land for other crops in fear of reducing the acreage under potato production. This makes crop diversification a challenge among farmers. Similarly, previous studies (Deininger et al., 2009;Kassie et al., 2010;Wekesa et al., 2018) also reported that the land size determines the number and type of CSA practices being implemented.
The study also found that irrigation was an important CSA practice for crop production under current climate change. Irrigation provided medium synergies on productivity and adaptation pillar with high synergy on mitigation pillar. For productivity, the experts recommended irrigation as a CSA practice to increase sustained production than rainfed agriculture. Nuutinen et al. (2017), notes that 40% of the world's agricultural production is under irrigation. In this study, irrigation was found to help farmers stabilize potato production by supplementing rainfall and keeping the soil moist for the crop during the dry periods. Moreover, farmers would produce off-seasons making them fetch good prices in the markets and during dry season's farmers have little problems with pests and diseases. Verhagen et al. (2014) assert that irrigation as a response to drought creates synergies for potato production by increasing potato yield due to few cases of pest infestations as opposed to the wet season. However, contrary to the mitigation pillar result, experts argued that though irrigation can be useful for the productivity pillar, it also comes with some trade-offs. The trade-off is as a result of increased use of scarce water and energy (fuel consumption) needed for irrigation during the dry season, which affects the mitigation pillar. Nuutinen et al. (2017) suggests that policymakers should encourage farmers to invest in appropriate and sustainable approaches such as the use of solar-driven and drip irrigation systems to increase water productivity, save water and energy should be of high priority. Long-term soil and water conservation structures such as water pans to store water for use in future during droughts for irrigation would also help reduce pressure on scarce water and thus contribute to solving the trade-offs.
Finally, the study revealed that 45% of the experts' responses indicated that farmers currently use changing planting dates as an adaptation strategy. The use of changing the planting date showed high synergies across the three CSA pillars. Kenyan agricultural sector and SSA in general largely depend on rainfed agriculture. Rainfall is an important factor considered by smallholder farmers in Kenya for crop production. Due to the changing climate and variability, the average months for planting have shifted due to rainfall onset variations. The experts revealed that resource-poor farmers now adjust to the changes and wait until the rains start to fall. The shifts in planting dates attributed to the fact that the country's potato farming majorly depends on rainfed agriculture. The change in the rain calendar has forced majority of Irish potato farmers who cannot afford irrigation as an alternative source of water to adjust their planting dates. This has caused farmers to incur production losses due to poor predictability of rainfall patterns to start sowing. Previously, smallholder farmers in Kenya started planting with the onset of long rains in March and June and the short rains from September to November (Muthoni et al., 2017). However, due to climate change impact, the new calendar for regular planting dates now depends on reliable weather forecast following the rainfall pattern shifts. It can be noted that most sub-Saharan Africa farmers cannot meet the level of investment required on adaptation infrastructure such as irrigation for continued production; hence, they resort to changing planting dates as the easiest option on CCV (Kinuthia et al., 2018;Komba & Muchapondwa, 2012). However, changing planting dates affect the farmer's production cycle and income as delays in rainfall result in a delay in planting time for the season.

Conclusion and recommendations
This study assessed the top 5 CSA practices preferred by experts versus currently used in Irish potato farming. It also evaluated the synergies and trade-offs upon CSA practices implementation by farmers in Kenya. First, the use of improved crop varieties, efficient use of agrochemicals (e.g., pesticides, fungicides & herbicides), early land preparation, diversified crop production and efficient use of inorganic fertilizers were the top 5 most preferred practices by experts. Simultaneously, irrigation and changing planting dates from the farmer replaced the efficient use of agrochemicals and diversified crop production on the experts' list. However, the result showed that among the top 5 CSA practices in both cases, farmers were using changing of planting dates and irrigation instead of efficient use of agrochemicals and diversified crop production preferred by experts. Secondly, the top 5 selected CSA practices showed synergies across CSA pillars except for early land preparation which revealed a trade-off on the mitigation pillar. Selected CSA practices prioritized productivity over adaptation or mitigation pillars. CSA practices have the opportunity to improve farm productivity, adaptation and mitigation to climate change. Further, this study looked at synergies and trade-offs on CSA pillar's performance of each CSA practice. Synergies and tradeoffs are key to realizing productivity, mitigation and adaptation in Irish potato production in Kenya and worldwide. The study found that implementing some CSA practices could cause synergies on one pillar and trade-offs on other pillars by affecting other practices and resources. Therefore, a clear and consistent policy framework is necessary for the successful adoption and up-scaling of CSA. The framework should include clear guidelines, extension services, incentives and technical infrastructure and policy harmonization to avoid trade-offs between CSA pillars.
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations can be made: (1) Further research on the development and availability of better seed varieties resistant to emerging diseases and pests, e.g., potato cyst nematode, bacterial and viral diseases to increase the supply at affordable prices to smallholder farmers is necessary. More importantly, the attributes of the certified seeds need to be communicated well to the farmers. To enhance adoption, extensive promotion of the improved varieties through on-farm demonstrations for wider reach is recommended, especially targeting specific locations with a low probability of adoption.
(2) Policy interventions that encourage the combination of inorganic and organic fertilizers should be established to improve soil quality and sustainable Irish potato farming.
(3) National and regional policies on small-scale irrigation farming that will ensure that farmers do not suffer a total loss of their agricultural produce due to climate variability and change should be formulated. Solution for farmers to invest in appropriate and sustainable approaches such as solardriven and drip irrigation systems are essential. Additionally, long-term soil and water conservation structures such as terraces to reduce the loss of fertile soils and water pans to store water to be used during droughts for irrigation would help solve the trade-offs among CSA practices (4) To reduce the vulnerability of farmers to climate-related risks, the government needs to improve farmers´ access to climate information through innovative dissemination pathways. This will help reduce uncertainties among Irish potato farmers on the uptake of CSA practices and enable farmers to accurately plan their farming activities.
In addition, we recommend that future studies similar to this should include all the Irish potato stakeholders including farmers to validate the findings of this study.