Watershed Governance And Its Implications Onfood Security In The Lower Sio River Basinbusia County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Efforts to implement Integrated Water Resource Management are often hampered by

inefficient political and institutional environments. As a result, Lower Sio River basin has

experienced land use and land cover changes which have exerted negative ecological

impacts on local livelihoods. It is unclear how much watershed governance is integrated

into policy across the county levels to promote food security. Therefore, the study aimed

at determining the status of watershed governance and its place in enhancing food

security in the Lower Sio River basin; Nambale, Matayos and Funyula Sub-counties in

Busia County, Kenya. The specific objectives were to: determine the perceptions of

households on changes in rural watershed governance; examine the adaptive capacity of

state and non-state institutions to enhance watershed governance for food security;

evaluate the impacts of watershed governance structures on rural food security; and

evaluate the effectiveness of adaptive co-management of watershed governance for food

security. Cross-sectional and evaluation research design; qualitative and quantitative

approaches, and probability and non-probability sampling techniques were used to ensure

triangulation and cross-checking the research process. A structured questionnaire,

interview guide, focus group discussion guide and observation checklist were tools used

to collect data. Two-level multi-stage sampling was combined with simple random and

proportionate sampling to select a sample of 387 households for quantitative data.

Purposive, convenient and snowball sampling procedures were used to select a sample

for key informants’ interviews and focus group discussions. Descriptive statistics, bivariate,

Chi-square and T-test, context and qualitative analysis were done. The study

found that 75.2% of the households’ depended on farmlands for food while 81.9% agreed

that watershed governance determined food security. Consequently, 86.3% needed

changes in watershed governance systems. Creating social resilience to adapt to a

changing climate, and clarifying roles and responsibilities at p-value=0.000; enhancing

water-use efficiency and improving management at p-value=0.010 were significant

governance aims at households’ food security. Watershed governance structures such as

water resources management policies and plans p-value=0.000, and water resource

institutions p-value=0.001 were also significant to households' food security status.

Majority 86.8% blamed low farm yield as a key driver for households' food insecurity.

Low supply of food in the market, incidences of prolonged droughts and low levels of

income p-value=0.000 and ineffective government policy p-value=0.007 drivers of food

insecurity were significant in determining households' food security status. On average

55.3% of households were food insecure. Regression analysis results showed that

religion, watershed expertise, level of satisfaction towards watershed governance and comanagement

of watershed could only explain 20.8% variations in households’ food

security status. Generally, watershed governance structures did not affect households’

food security. Further, the study found that there were collaborations among actors

without coordination and monitoring framework. Furthermore, 70.0% and 85.8% of

households indicated that they did not offer support to National Environment

Management Authority and Water Resources Authority respectively. The study

concluded that watershed governance did not enhance sustainable food security thus it

was recommended for deliberate policy changes and efforts towards watershed

governance through building actors adaptive capacities, co-management, households’

satisfaction and participation for sustainable food security in the basin.