Factors Influencing Farmers Decisions to Adapt Rain Water Harvesting Techniques in Keiyo District, Kenya

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1 Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences (JETEMS) 4(2): Scholarlink Research Institute Journals, 2013 (ISSN: ) jetems.scholarlinkresearch.org Journal of Emerging Trends Economics and Management Sciences (JETEMS) 4(2): (ISSN: ) Factors Influencing Farmers Decisions to Adapt Rain Water Harvesting Techniques in Keiyo District, Kenya Florence. A. Murgor, James O. Owino, Grace J. Cheserek, Christopher K. Saina Department of Applied Environmental Social Sciences, University of Eldoret. P.O. Box Eldoret. Correspondence Author: Grace J. Cheserek Abstract In the last few decades, rain water harvesting techniques have been used in arid and semi-arid parts of the World and promising results have been achieved in terms of increasing yield. However, in Keiyo district the techniques for water harvesting are being practiced at a low rate; leading to insufficient availability of water for domestic and irrigation purposes. The aim of this study is to investigate the factors that influence farmers decisions on adaption of rain water harvesting techniques in Keiyo district. The specific objectives were: to determine the technical factors influencing farmers ; to determine the socio-economic factors influencing farmers decisions and to suggest policy recommendations to create awareness for farmers and to provide technical/ institutional support for farmers in rain water harvesting. This study was done in Keiyo district using field surveys, structured and semi-structured interviews, farmers group meetings and interviews with key informants. A descriptive statistical analysis approach was used for assessing the real causes of low adoption rates for rain water harvesting techniques in the district. Data was collected on information regarding household s socio - economic characteristics and human capital. The finding of this study shows that: poor capital and human endowment; lack of access to credit; involvement in off-farm activities; negative perception; gender issues; inaccessibility of construction materials and lack of technical know-how are among the factors that influenced adoption of rain water harvesting technologies. The respondents level of education and involvement in social responsibilities were found to positively influence the adoption of the rain water harvesting techniques. The study recommends the need to develop concrete measures to create awareness for farmers and provide technical and institutional support for farmers. Keywords: water harvesting, rain water and irrigation, household water storage, semi-arid water management INTRODUCTION Human welfare and progress have been closely associated with access of freshwater. However, in the last century rapid population growth and human activities development interfered with hydrological processes. The arid and semi-arid lands of sub Saharan Africa are characterized by erratic rainfall with high annual variability, annual potential evaporation exceeding the rainfall amounts, high amounts of runoff due to low infiltration and recurrent soil moisture deficits limiting crop production (Ben-Asher and Berliner, 1994; UN/ISDR, 2007). Under these circumstances, rain fed agriculture, which is one of the main economic activities, has failed to provide minimum food requirements for the rapidly increasing population. Issues related to fresh water quantity and quality has become serious in many regions of the World. Arid and semi-arid regions face increasing stress from water scarcity, while most of the globe faces growing pollution problems as a result of environmental change and lack of adequate management. The population of water-short countries was estimated to be 550 million in 1998 and is expected to increase to 1 billion by the year 2010, while estimations on water quality pick out that 1 billion people do not have access to clean water, and 1.7 billion do not have sanitation (World Bank, 2007). According to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency only about percent of all the earth's water is accessible for human use. Competition for fresh water is increasing. In Kenya poor water management, low soil fertility, unreliable and erratic rainfall has continued to threaten food production in major arid and semi-arid regions of the country. Environmental degradation has further decreased agricultural productivity and making inhabitants even more susceptible to drought and other natural disasters. In many occasions food aid has saved lives in the country from severe famine situations. Food relief is still important and continues to be important as long as transportation facilities are poor and local food production in drought prone areas is inadequate. Given the poor transportation infrastructure, emphasis on local food production appears the most logical approach to improved food security. 133

2 A number of countries in Africa already face semiarid conditions that make agriculture challenging, and climate change will likely reduce the length of growing seasons and force large regions of marginal agriculture out of production (UN/ISDR, 2007). This is the effect of decades of deforestation and overexploitation of natural resources, caused by a rapidly growing rural population and poor land-use practices. It is also a stark indication of a lack of effective management of the most precious water resource. Unless sustainable food production technologies are adopted, alleviation of poverty and food security will remain elusive (UNCCD, 2004). The problems related to water, food security and risk of drought with a lack of resources to import food and recurrent famine need urgent solutions to find feasible and critical management options, which would augment the production of agricultural activities and meet the food requirements of the fast growing population. Suitable management of water resource is very critical to get the benefit out of this valuable resource. But water management is not an end by itself, but it is a means to eradicate poverty, guarantee basic human rights to all ensure gender equity and preserve the natural resource base for future generations. Among many possible options, rainwater harvesting can improve the livelihood of rural population by ensuring optimal crop production in areas where shortage of rainfall is a limiting factor. Rainwater harvesting is a method of collecting surface runoff from a catchment area and storing it in surface reservoirs. It can be a source of water for a variety of purposes in arid and semi-arid regions when common sources, such as streams, springs or wells fail. There are many techniques being used to enhance crop production in the ASALs of the Keiyo. Keiyo District is one the district in Rift Valley province; and is small compared to the rest of the districts. The district is a narrow strip of land which covers 1150sq kilometers (Chebet and Dietz, 2000) and extends from latitude 0 10 to 0 52 north and longitude to east. The area is one of the drought prone, semi-arid areas characterized by low and unreliable rainfall of 700mm per annum. The temperatures are high ranging from between degrees centigrade ((Kipkorir, 1985; Chemursoi, 2000; Cheserek, 2007). Majority of inhabitants trek for several kilometres during the dry season in search of water. The authors observed that there was concentration of more people in one spring at a time. Some water projects in the area have failed due to lack of support from the community. The long history of agriculture, high population density, poor climatic conditions and severe soil erosion have resulted in a high risk of drought, intra-seasonal dry spells and recurrent food insecurity problems. The main production system in the district is mixed small-scale rain-fed agriculture, comprising of both crop and livestock production which normally compete for the available limited water resources. Crop production depends on the rainfall pattern which is bi-modal in nature with long rains from March to June and short rains occurring between October and November, though it varies from one area to another within the district. Crop and livestock production is constrained by low productivity hampered by shortage of rainfall, animal feed, prevalence of diseases and low husbandry practices. Hence, agriculture is contributing little to the economic well being of the community. Almost all the farmers of the district are subsistence farmers, except a few who are semi-commercial and engaged in the production of cash crops from different irrigation schemes. Like in other arid and semi-arid parts of Kenya, in Keiyo District household rainwater has been promoted intensively in order to harvest water needed to meet own domestic needs and provide additional irrigation to their long rainy season crops. The main cash crops grown include: potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, peppers, carrots and fruits. However, despite the economic viability and potential of rain water harvesting techniques for improving agricultural productivity and livelihoods, the adoption of the rain water harvesting techniques by farmers is not satisfactory. So far many studies has been done on the rate of adoption of the technology and tried to explain why farmers are reluctant in using it. However all the reports did not provide enough reasons as to why the rate of adoption of rainwater harvesting is low among the farmers. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study assumed a cross sectional survey based on a sample of two locations: Keiyo South and Keiyo North. Cross sectional survey usually relates to the present state of affairs and involves an attempt to provide a snapshot of how things are at a specific time at which the data is collected (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2000). This method allowed generalizations to be made about experiences, characteristics, views and attitudes of the entire population being studied.). The cross sectional survey was adopted in this study because the independent factors were study after it has exerted relationship between the dependent variable. The relationship of independent variables in retrospect of the dependent variables are analyzed and presented. The population of the study consists of 200 (N=200) respondents from the members of the communities household living in Keiyo district. A total of 40 respondents were chosen randomly from the target population for this study to form the sample size 134

3 representing about 20% of the population. The method of sampling adopted was a simple random sampling process under a pilot test re test method, and this gave an average value of 0.95 reliability coefficient which was considered adequate for the study. Questionnaires of both open structured and unstructured questions items that capture opinion, feeling and suggestions of the respondents were used in the space provided for the questionnaire. All the questions in the questionnaire will be related to the objective and the research questions of the study. The main issues sought by the questionnaire will include: factors influencing farmers decisions on adoption of rain water harvesting techniques in Keiyo district, technical factor influencing farmers, socio-economic factors influencing farmers and policies to be adopted to create awareness for farmers, providing technical and institutional support for farmers. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The pertinent technical factors that influence farmers were recognized and studied one by one. The technical factors include: leaching and access of construction materials, sedimentation, evaporation, and water extraction and application methods. Leaching and Accessibility of Construction Materials Generally, rain water harvesting techniques types have different leaching control device which include clay soil compaction, plastic and cement/concrete lining. The respective frequency and percentage was calculated and the results of interviewed farmers indicate the following: 35% that ponds were sheltered with plastic lining, 10% of the ponds were clay compacted, 30% sheltered with concrete and 25% were concert lined circular tanks. Table 1: Different category of rain water harvesting techniques Category Frequency Percentage (%) Clay soil compaction 4 10 Plastic lining Cement/concrete lining ponds Concert lined circular tanks The implication of this is that most of the clay soil compacted ponds were highly ineffective in preventing the leaching loss. Which imply that leakage rate of the compacted ponds is very high. It was established that correlation was high in the usage of Plastic lining. The respondents reported that as long as the plastic cover remains without damage, ponds with plastic sheet linings appear to be to be more effective in preventing leakage loss. Sedimentation and Evaporation More than 98% of the farmers said yes that the risk of sedimentation is still very high because most of the structures were not constructed properly. The observation carried out on some ponds, showed that most of the ponds were filled with sediments about 40-50cm high. Most of the waterways and silt traps were not covered with grasses; this led to rapid runoff and made the pond to fill rapidly with sediments. Table 2: Sedimentation and Evaporation Response Frequency Percentage (%) Yes No 1 2 TOTAL is that most of the ponds were not constructed according to the design requirements and hence some of them had no evaporation prevention mechanism and the risk of water loss due to evaporation is high. Therefore, there is need for evaporation prevention mechanism in the surroundings of the pond to cool the environment and shade the pond to prevent excessive evaporation during the hot and dry season. Water Extraction Mechanisms More than (70%) of the farmers interviewed used water cans to extract water from the pond and carried the water cans by hand. Other respondent farmers used a different technology to extract the water from the pond. The respective frequency and percentage was calculated and the results of interviewed farmers indicate the following: treadle pump (5%); hand pump (10%) and motor pump through generator (15%) respectively as shown in the table 3a. Table 3a: Water extraction mechanisms Water extraction mechanisms Frequency (%) Treadle pump 2 5 Hand pump 4 10 Using a water bucket Motor pump through generator 6 15 Water Extraction Application Regarding the water application methods, 40% of the farmers use flood irrigation, 40% watering with buckets and 20% use the combination of flood irrigation and water canning Table 3b: Water extraction application Water extraction application Frequency (%) Flood irrigation Watering with buckets Combination of flood irrigation and 8 20 watering with buckets 135

4 is that most of the farmers are not aware about how to extract and apply the water efficiently. A water loss due to poor application is so high and hence most of the farmers who were interviewed were not satisfied with the way they extracted the water and applied it to their crops. It is laborious, less efficient and time consuming. It is important to inform the farmers that the drip irrigation technology and the water use efficiency could be improved drastically. The suitability of the location (catchment area) of the rain water harvesting structures is a very important factor for adoption of rain water harvesting structures. Hence special attention should be given to that and experts should be involved when selecting the location. Socio-Economic Factors Influencing Farmers The socio-economic factors influencing farmers were categorized in household variables (gender, education and age) and economic variables (wealth status, access to credit, social status and household members perception). All the factors showed different effects on the adoption rate of the rain water harvesting techniques. Gender of the Household Head In view of the fact that women are affected by any circumstances that happens in a community, it is imperative to look the impact of rain water harvesting techniques in relation to gender of the household head. Even though the income of both men and women is vital to meet the basic needs of a family, women s income affects the family relatively more, given that women more often than not spend a higher portion of their income on family expenditures than men do. The study revealed that the adoption rate of the rain water harvesting techniques by female headed household is low. Only 70% of the female headed respondents adopted the rain water harvesting techniques and among them only 10% were successful in making proper use of the harvesting. The main reasons for non adoption were their poor financial, lack of awareness about the benefits of the pond, lack of technical assistance Education Levels of the Participants The study sought to establish the levels of education for the participants. The variable level of education was categorically operationalised using the categories as illiterate, primary school, secondary school and College graduate. The variable highest level of education was relevant to the study because education can change the behaviour of a farmer regarding their attitude and awareness towards a new technique. An examination of the interview responses pertaining level of education revealed that large percentage of the household heads being interviewed were illiterate (60 %) when compared to those with primary school which account for only 25 %. Those with formal education at the secondary school level account for 10 % and those at the level of College graduate account for only 5%. The respective frequency and percentage were calculated for each category and the results tabulated as shown in table 4 below. Table 4: Literacy level of household s participants Literacy level of Frequency Percentage% households Illiterate Primary school Secondary school 4 10 College graduate 2 5 as shown in the table 4.5, 60% of households heads are illiterate have a mixed attitude towards the technology while 40% of households whose heads reached primary school, secondary school and college graduate level of education have positive attitude towards the different types of rain water harvesting techniques Age Bracket for the Respondents The study sought to establish the most predominant age bracket for the respondents sampled in the study. Age as a variable was operationalised using age brackets. Age was deemed relevant to the study on socio-economic factors factor influencing farmers in the study area. In this study, the mean age of interviewed household heads is 45 years. This indicates that farmers with more experience in farming activities are in the sample and as can be seen from Table 5, 90 % of the interviewed families with a young household head adopt the rain water harvesting techniques and most of them were involved in adopting the more expensive, but efficient type of rain water harvesting techniques. The old household heads were concentrating mostly on the less costly clay soil compaction (and plastic lining type of statistically difficult to prove) Rain water harvesting techniques. This could be due to the fact that the young farmers are always ready to take risks and adopt expensive, but effective agricultural technologies. The respective frequency and percentage was calculated and the results tabulated as shown below in table 5. Wealth Status of the Household The important role of financial, human and land resources endowment of a household is very vital in the decision of the household on whether to adopt any newly introduced agricultural techniques. From the results of the study, 30% of the respondents were 136

5 rich, 25% had a middle level income and 32% were poor and 5 % were female headed households. The results tabulated as shown below in table 6, 95 % of the rich, 95 % of the middle income, 82 % of the poor households and 63 % of female headed households have already adopted rain water harvesting techniques. This shows that rich farmers are most enthusiastic in adopting rain water harvesting technology. In addition most the rich household invested in the costly concrete lined ponds and concert lined circular ponds. This was due to the fact that the financial bequest of the rich and middleincome households motivate them to take credit and invest in the Rain water harvesting technology. However, the poor households preferred either not to adopt the Rain water harvesting techniques or adopt the less expensive category Table 6: Adoption of the four types of Rain water harvesting techniques by different categories of households in % Household category Number of households Clay soil compaction Plastic lining Concrete lining ponds Concert lined circular tanks No adoption Rich Household 12 (30%) - (5%) (40%) (50%) (5%) Middle income 10 (25%) (5%) (45% (30%) (15%) (5%) Household Poor Households 13 (32%) (30%) (45% (5%) (2%) (18%) Female headed 5 (13%) (15%) (45% (1%) (2%) (37% Household study is that, the success among the poor households was found to be lower among those who adopted the Rain water harvesting technology. Hence, Rain water harvesting ponds in most of the poor households group didn t meet the objective of lessening the owner's dependency on rainfall. The adoption of technology could not be an answer to achieve certain objectives unless additional attempt is put in to make sure that the adopted technologies are appropriately utilized. Credit Access One of the potential limitations to farmers in adopting modern technologies and inputs is the financial related problems such as: cost of hired labour is too high, transportation cost is high for agricultural products, cost of construction material is high and lack of credit access or shortage of capital. It is difficult to increase agricultural sector productivity without efficient credit facility, given the fact that the majority of farmers are resource-poor. In the Keiyo district, the farmers have been facing problem of lack of credit access and shortage of capital. Although, almost all the households showed their strong interest in getting access to credit but only few of them have access to credit. Social Status Social status of the household heads also played a significant role in the decision of the household whether to adopt the Rain water harvesting technology or not. From the respondents who were interviewed, 18 were a member of certain key local institutions and all of them were found to be successful adopters of the technology. This could be due to the fact that most of them were involved in social responsibilities and show innovativeness and social actions. Household Member Perception Household member perception of the scale of a given problem may influence his/her decision on possible solutions. The same applies to household members preferences for certain technology based on real experience or perceived characteristics. In this study household member s positive attitude towards Rain water harvesting techniques had a positive effect on the adoption of the technologies. Majority of the household members farmers who adopt the technology revealed that the technology is very essential for altering their livelihood. In contrast, those household members who did not adopt the technology have a negative attitude about the technologies and for the rest of the household members it was the lack of capital delaying them from adopting the Rain water harvesting technology. The implication of this is that shows that a household member who has a positive attitude adopts the rain water harvesting technologies at a higher rate than those farmers who have a negative attitude. The results imply that respondent responsiveness to rain water harvesting technology depends highly on the strength of the technology related outlook. Policies to be Adopted to Create Awareness for Farmers, Providing Technical and Institutional Farmers Support It was paramount to establish the policies to be adopted in order to create awareness for farmers, providing technical and institutional support for farmers. This was meant to enable the researcher to suggest possible ways of tapping the experience of different countries in the world where rain water harvesting technologies have become a strategic measure for social and economic development in semi-arid regions, providing an effective means of alleviating poverty, and allowing a breakthrough in 137

6 dry land farming. However the adoption rate of these technologies is still very low and it is believed that this is the result of the difficulties associated with the many combinations of socio-economic constraints and technical factors that exist in a particular area. Therefore, rainwater harvesting structures could constitute a viable investment in semi-arid areas, which experience persistent crop failures, food shortages and poverty. Farmers should be encouraged to take credit from existing institutions and invest in the most financially feasible Rain water harvesting structures and drip irrigation systems for vegetables and fruits production. Such technologies would improve agricultural production and livelihoods of the poor farmers living in marginal lands. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSIONS Introduction of rain water harvesting structures in the drought prone Keiyo district was found to be important both in terms of harvesting enough water needed to meet both the domestic and the irrigation needs. A significant number of farmers of the Keiyo started to obtain higher yields after they adopted the technologies and their annual income became higher. Some farmers have still mixed feelings about this technology and with all its advantages, the adoption rate of the technologies by all farmers is still low and this is due to the fact that the technology is surrounded with a lot of social, economical and institutional problems. The results from the socio-economic analysis showed that poor capital and human resource endowment, lack of access to credit, a negative perception, gender issues, seepage, sedimentation, inaccessibility of construction materials, lack of technical know/how, poor water extraction and application methodologies are among the factors that negatively influence adoption of Rain water harvesting technologies. Level of education and involvement in social responsibilities were found to be positively influencing the adoption of the technologies. In particular to the poor farmers, since their farmland is mostly small in size and found in the marginal steep slopes, it is very difficult for them to accept the technology and construct the structures in their field. Hence, along with the other socio-economic and technical factors, the main reason why these farmers seem to be reluctant to accept the technology is a lack of enough land to construct the structure. RECOMMENDATIONS In the light of the findings, discussions and implications highlighted above, the following recommendations are suggested for the improvement for better adoption of Rain water harvesting technologies and for improving farmers income, which will lead to the attainment of food security; There is need to exploit available resources in order to improve livelihoods. To this end, the researcher recommends and emphasizes on rain water harvesting which is virtually lacking in the district. Proper rainwater harvesting techniques can provide enough water for domestic, industrial and irrigation uses. Rain water harvesting is one of the best options available to fight drought in this region. For the poor farmers, since they don t have enough land to construct the Rain water harvesting structures on their farmland, it is important to consider other developmental solution other than sticking with this technology There is need for integrated Water Resources Management strategy and National Water Policy There is need for revival of diverse and community-based irrigation systems, soil and water conservation Technologies should not be imposed, but should be on the willingness of the farmers Strong awareness should be created among the farmers before trying to promote this particular technology. Only technologies with a high financial feasibility should be promoted to the society Women headed household should be empowered through different institutional supports and special treatment should be given to women farmers who are engaging in Rain water harvesting technologies by giving them long term credit and assisting them during the construction stage Institutions for facilitation of extension services, technical assistance, training, credit services should become available to the farmers REFERENCES Ben-Asher and Berliner, (1994) UN/ISDR, 2007) Runoff irrigation. In: Tanji, K.K., Yaron, B. (Eds.). Management of Water Use for Agriculture, Management of Water Use in Agriculture. Advanced Series in Agricultural Sciences No. 22, Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany, pp Chebet, S. ands Dietz, T. (2000). Climbing the cliff: A history of the Keiyo. Kenya:Eldoret. Chemursoi, C.C. (2000). Indigenous Knowledge and waste management, the Elgeyo, Keiyo District, Kenya. Master of Philosophy Thesis, Moi University 138

7 Fraenkel, J. R., and Wallen, N. E. (2000). How to design and evaluate research in Education. London, U.K: McGraw Hill. Kipkorir, B. (1985). The people of Rift Valley: Kalenjin. Kenya: Evans Brothers Nairobi. UNCCD (2004). Ten years on: UN marks World Day to Combat Desertification; Observances worldwide on June 17, UN/ISDR, (2007) Disaster risk reduction an adaptation to climatic change in World Bank (2007). Report on the Status of Disaster Risk Reduction in the Sub-Saharan Africa Region 139