An economic valuation of the Kenya Meteorological Department’s decentralised provision

Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) are decentralising services to the county level that offer localised weather and seasonal products with better contextualised design, and more accessible/understandable com- munication channels relative to national level equivalents. This report uses spatial variation in household income (2014–2015) across Kitui County to model the association between using KMD local level weather and climate products and services and income appreciations. House- holds receiving KMD decentralised products and services consistently have higher income levels when in receipt of local advisories and sea- sonal forecasts, and this is compared in relation to those associated with national level forecasts. When benefits are compared to costs, results indicate the KMD decentralised provision is an economically viable invest- ment with comparable returns to similar initiatives within Kenya and other developing countries.