Open Access Library Journal How to cite this paper: Kiprutto, N., Rotich, L.K. and Riungu, G.K. (2015) Agriculture, Climate Change and Food Security. Open Access Library Journal, 2: e1472. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1101472 Agriculture, Climate Change and Food Security Nehemia Kiprutto, Laban K. Rotich, Geoffrey K. Riungu School of Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya Email: sirlurburn@gmail.com Received 27 April 2015; accepted 12 May 2015; published 22 May 2015 Copyright © 2015 by authors and OALib. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract Agriculture is one of the main economic activities in the world, with its significance magnified es- pecially among the world’s poor. This paper seeks to explore how climate change would impact on the agricultural sector and consequently food security. Agricultural activities in most developing countries entirely depend on rainfall patterns, on the contrary, climate change has emerging as an environmental challenge with adverse impacts expected on food security. This is mainly through incidences of changes in water availability, floods and drought. For example, changes in tempera- ture and precipitation including drought affects crop and livestock yield, hydrologic balances, in- put supplies and other components of agricultural systems. Equally important, environmental de- gradation is one of the drivers of climate change that further undermines sustainability of agri- culture. Climate change is real and already taking place. According to the inter-governmental pan- el on climate change (IPCC), warming temperatures are projected to cause more frequent and more intense extreme weather events such as heavy rain storms, flooding and tropical storms and in some cases drought in many parts of the country. Agriculture is one of the most climate sensi- tive sectors, with projections that 800 million people are currently food insecure. Additionally, it has the potential to undermine advances in poverty reduction and sustainable development. Thus, fundamental changes in agricultural systems are needed because climate change poses new and serious challenges for farmers hence food insecurity. Most important, agricultural adaptation and mitigation pathways need to be developed so as to avoid further threat on food security. Keywords Agriculture, Climate Change, Extreme Events, Food Security Subject Areas: Education 1. Introduction Agriculture constitutes the backbone of most African economies. It is the largest contributor to GDP; the biggest