Cultivating through Crises: Empowering African Small-Holders through Histories of Creative Emergency Response (CCEASH) CCEASH aims to adopt a historiographical approach in order to demonstrate how smallholder farmers in Elgeyo-Marakwet County (EMC), Kenya, innovate and respond in times of crisis. The recent surge in desert locust swarms, allied to flooding and drought, across East Africa present an unprecedented urgent threat to local livelihoods, where failed harvests and crop destruction, coupled with pandemic-related collapse of global market chains, has raised concerns surrounding food shortages and impending economic collapse. In response to these crises, the Kenyan Ministry for Agriculture has called upon farmers and other stakeholders to rapidly intensify production (http://www.kilimo.go.ke/covid-19/). COVID-19 The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.