Phoebe Mwangangi is a smallholder farmer from Makueni County, a semi-arid area that receives minimal rainfall.

Despite the minimal rainfall in the area, Mwangangi says that they are able to farm drought tolerant crops like sorghum, millet and cowpeas through the use of new innovative techniques that are fit for their landscape.

“We are being assisted with innovative methods like deep tillage that is basically digging deep with minimum soil disturbance, this helps the turbulence to hold water when the rains fail,” said Mwangangi during an interview at the side event in the ongoing ACS.

Makueni County is one of the 47 counties in Kenya, located in the southeastern parts of the country.

Agriculture is a significant economic activity in the County, Livestock farming is also common.

Through different non-governmental organizations like Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA), the County has been able to implement various agricultural and water conservation projects to address food security and water scarcity issues.