Abstract:
Watershed governance arrangements require various types of resources that are essential to create and maintain responsiveness and effectiveness to food security issues. However, these arrangements have often failed to effectively address hunger due to unsustainable resource allocation for long term solutions. This study was set up to determine the perceptions of households on changes in rural watershed governance in the Lower Sio River Watershed, Busia County Kenya. Cross sectional survey combined with both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were used. A total of 387 households were sampled for quantitative data using a combination of multi-stage and simple random sampling. Questionnaires and focus group discussion guides were used to collect data. Descriptive, bivariate and chi-square analysis were done. Results indicate that: the majority (81.9%) of the household perceived that watershed governance determines food security at p-value=0.000. Current devolution system in Kenya had impacted on watershed governance at p-value=0.003. There was a highly significant variation in the drivers for a more collaborative watershed-focused model with demand for local domestic use water protection at p-value=0.000, water pollution control at p-value=0.087, recognition of increasing water scarcity at p-value=0.073 and the growing demand for citizens to have a viable voice in watershed decision making at p-value=0.000. Legal rights to water and water resources were ranked by 84.0%, while 83.5% ranked geographical diversity as important watershed governance contextual factors. The study also revealed that 86.3% of the households needed changes in watershed governance systems to ensure water resource management is treated as a public trust. The tested variables in policy decision making will contribute to improved watershed governance and thus food security in the Lower Sio River watershed. |
