Smart agriculture to help Africa fight climate change

As a teacher who is involved in small-scale farming herself, Mwende said that she was impressed by how she learned about adaptability, resilience and sustainability in practicing climate-smart agriculture. Some climate-smart urban agriculture technologies and innovations that were showcased during the week-long fair included wick gardens, multistorey gardens, hydroponics, green house farming, soil conservation technologies amongst many others.

"We come from a dry area and with the issue of climate change making the weather unpredictable, the only solution is to employ smart practices especially in water conservation for our region. There are a number of exhibitors with tailor-made solutions such as irrigation and hydroponics, which can work for large-scale farmers or for small-scale farmers like me or the students' garden back in school," Mwende said.

This year's fair held for one week from September 23-29 featured close to 500 exhibitors from at least 10 countries including Tanzania, Ghana, Mozambique, Malawi, Argentina and Pakistan. The fair, whose theme was 'Promoting climate-smart agriculture and trade initiatives for sustainable economic growth" plays an important role in Kenya's economic and agricultural development particularly in dissemination of information and training to smallholder farmers and small businesses.