EVALUATING ACCESS AND USE OF DISSEMINATION PATHWAYS FOR DELIVERING CLIMATE INFORMATION AND SERVICES TO WOMEN FARMERS IN SEMI-ARID KENYA

Women living in semi-arid environments of Kenya are vulnerable to the frequent exposure to impacts of changing climate and need to access climate information and services to build their adaptive capacity. This study characterized the channels through which the women farmers in a semi- arid area of Kenya access climate information and services from data collected from randomly selected sample in cross sectional survey using structured questionnaire. Over 70% of the women perceived change in rainfall, drought, floods, human and livestock diseases to have been “severe” to “very severe” over the last five years. Majority of the women (88.5%) most preferred radio in to accessing climate information and services. Women consistently rated radio highly for delivering reliable information, explaining details and use of local language understood to them. However, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated that comprehensive informing on climatic hazards and support services for adaptation to changing climate is from extension service unlike the other channels which delivered information only on climatic hazards. The study concluded that combination of extension agents, radio and local administration would be more effective for disseminating climate information and services to the women farmers in marginal areas. Capacity building for extension service is needed in interpretation of weather data to enable them effectively disseminate climate information and services to vulnerable people of arid and semi-arid environments.