| dc.description.abstract | In contrast to many areas of the globe where farmer posses adequate physical, economic and
social resources to adapt to and moderate effects of climate variation and climate change,
subsistence agriculture in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) of Kenya are particularly
affected in an unfavorable manner by the effects of climate change. This is more so because
of the increasing dependency of a good number of the population on rain fed agriculture as a
source of livelihood and economic income. An effective adaption mechanism to climate
change for sustainability of subsistence agriculture in these areas using communication
technologies is therefore highly important for food security and protection of livelihoods
within the rural areas. The main aim of this study was to model and predict the effectiveness
of climate sensors on the sustainability of subsistence agriculture in Laikipia County, one of
the ASALs in Kenya. The study hypothesized that the current community based strategies
applied by the local farmers are relevant and important to the present-day quest for climate
change adaptation strategies, and that feedback from the stakeholders can generate insight
used to generate an improved predictive model to further enhance this adaptation. The study
therefore conducted a survey study of rural stakeholders in Laikipia farmlands and assessed
the output through descriptive measures. Further, a logistic regression model of variables
constructed from the survey study was used to predict the effectiveness of data
communication technologies such as climate sensors that are currently employed on the
sustainability of subsistence agriculture in these rural areas, using variables such as
geographic extent, temporal scope, precision level, frequency of usage, and cost of
acquisition. The model was be tested through standard measures of goodness of fit such as
Chi-square and adjusted goodness-of-fit index. It is expected that results of this study will be
useful in policy formulations regarding adaptation mechanisms to climate change for
sustainability of rural-based subsistence agriculture. | en_US |
