Carbon Intensification and Poverty Reduction in Kenya: Lessons from the Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project

The Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project, implemented by the NGO Vi Agroforestry, is breaking new ground in designing and implementing climate finance projects in the agricultural sector. For the first time, while increasing agricultural productivity and enhancing resilience to climate change, smallholder farmers in Africa will receive benefits for greenhouse gas mitigation based on sustainable agricultural land management. The project has developed an activity monitoring system for sustainable agricultural land management (SALM) practices that enables smallholder famers and extension service provider to track and improve farm production. Based on the development of a carbon accounting methodology this system, in combination with a carbon model, is monitoring soil and biomass carbon sequestration consistent with the Verified Carbon Standard. As a result farmers in Africa for the first time can benefit from international voluntary carbon markets. The paper describes the Vi Agroforestry extension approach, outlines the project objectives and activities, and explains the carbon accounting methodology. Project achievements and lessons learned, but also the challenges that still lie ahead are presented. The authors conclude that the project model has great potential for scaling up and provide a potential blueprint for widespread adoption and effective monitoring of sustainable agricultural management in smallholder conditions.