Development of Soil Climate Regimes of Kenya Using Spatial Java Newhall Simulation Model.

Recent estimates indicate that over 10 million people in Kenya are food insecure, with majority of them living on food relief. Climate change is a fundamental threat to food security and development and fight against poverty; therefore, identification of strategies to alleviate its impacts on agriculture is essential. We developed a digital soil climate map of Kenya illustrating the water and temperature limitations for agriculture, both for present and future conditions. Soil temperature and moisture regimes of Kenya were estimated from the spatial Java Newhall simulation model, using present (1971-2000) and future (2050) atmospheric climate records from World Climate. Records of temporal monthly patterns of the soil moisture and temperature regimes were then digitally mapped using ArcGIS for Desktop software. Results showed that Kenya is dominated by isohyperthermic, isothermic and isomesic temperature regimes and aridic, ustic and udic moisture regimes both for current and future conditions. Over 80% of the country will not experience changes in soil temperature in 2050, but about half will experience soil moisture changes. Soil climate-crop relationships showed possible suitable soil moisture conditions for diversity in crop growth in 2050 in the arid and semi-arid parts (about 80%) of Kenya.