Adaptive Watershed Governance: A Missed Prospect for Food Security in the Lower Sio River Basin, Busia County, Kenya

Watershed systems with high adaptive capacity are able to re-configure themselves when subjected to change without significant declines in crucial socio-ecological functions. This study assessed adaptive capacity variables in watershed governance for sustainable food security at the household level in the Lower Sio River Basin, Busia County, Kenya. A total of 387 households were sampled using a combination of multi-stage and simple random sampling. Questionnaires, interview guides, observation and focus group discussion guides were employed to collect primary data. Results indicate that the need to increase or sustain food production was ranked first by 86.8% as a factor that contributed to public involvement in watershed management activities. The results further indicate that creating social resilience to adapt to a changing climate, and clarifying roles and responsibilities of stakeholders at p-value=0.000; enhancing water-use efficiency and improving management at p-value=0.010 were significant governance aims that determined households’ food security. Implementation of watershed governance structures such as water resources management policies and plans at p-value=0.000; and roles of water resource institutions such as Water Resource Management Authority and National Environment Management Authority at p-value=0.001 were also significant to enhance households' food security status. Watershed governance did not positively impact on food security in the basin resulting to an increased number of households with food insecurity from 54.0% in 2013 based on government estimates to 55.3% in 2017 the time when the study was carried out. Therefore, enhancing adaptive watershed governance at a watershed level through: common watershed responsibilities, implementation of policies and plans, improvement of structures and institutions is a fundamental condition towards households’ food security in the Lower Sio River Basin.