Adaptation for Food Security and Ecosystem Resilience in Africa (AFERIA)

The Adaptation for Food Security and Ecosystem Resilience in Africa (AFERIA) is a two-year project to disseminate and communicate research results, insights and interactions of climate change and food security generated by a previous research and development project (CHIESA-Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystem Services and Food Security in Eastern Africa)  to communities and professionals working with climate change related issues in the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot and strengthen their capacities to monitor and adapt to climate change.

AFERIA is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and coordinated by the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) in Nairobi, Kenya. The disseminated research-based knowledge supports the implementation of climate change adaptation technologies such as drip irrigation, roof rain water harvesting, conservation agriculture, agroforestry and insect pest management to partner organisations and smallholder farming communities in different agro-ecological zones in the highlands of Ethiopia; Kenya and Tanzania.

This project focuses on mountain ecosystems in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Project activities will be implemented in the in upper sub-catchment of the Didessa River Basin in the Jimma highlands of Ethiopia, The Taita Hills and Murang’a in Kenya and the upper sub-catchment of the Pangani Basin in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. 

The project works in close partnership with national and local organizations in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania to reach out to the smallholder farmers, especially women and special needs groups. In addition, through communication and advocacy, AFERIA supports policymakers in developing rational and evidence based decisions on climate change adaptation to enhance food security and ecosystem resilience in the target areas.

Lead Partners:

  • Jimma University , Ethiopia
  • Pangani Basin Water Board (PBWB) , Tanzania
  • Taita Environmental Research and Resource Arc (TERRA), Kenya
  • University of York, UK
  • University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • University of Helsinki, Finland

Beneficiaries

The target beneficiaries are smallholder farmers, in Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia coping with the impact of climate change. Other significant beneficiaries include: Agricultural extension agencies; CBOs and NGOs; local and national government; private sector and the general public.

The target beneficiaries are reached through intermediary beneficiaries who include the local organisations and smallholder farmers’ groups, associations and unions that nominate members to host and manage demonstration sites and farmer field schools to disseminate climate change adaptation technologies.