Relationship between Community Irrigation Performance and Psychological Resilience among Small-Scale Farmers: A Case of Mbeere North Sub-County, Embu County, Kenya

This study examined the relationship between community irrigation performance and psychological resilience among small-scale farmers in Mbeere North Sub-County, Embu County, Kenya. The study targeted 500 registered members of the Nthawa Irrigation Project and employed a mixed-methods cross-sectional research design. The planned sample comprised 130 project members and 19 key informants drawn from project management and relevant government offices. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were employed. Primary data were collected through questionnaires containing structured and open-ended questions. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis in SPSS Version 28, while qualitative responses were subjected to thematic analysis. The reported reliability coefficients were 0.708 for irrigation performance and 0.807 for psychological resilience. Among the 98 respondents represented in the descriptive results, 49.0% indicated that irrigation performance influenced psychological resilience to a great extent, while 13.3% indicated a very great extent. Correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between community irrigation performance and psychological resilience (r = 0.548, p < 0.001). The findings suggest that reliable irrigation infrastructure, community participation, and shared resource management are associated with stronger psychological resilience among small-scale farmers. The study recommends strengthening participatory irrigation management and incorporating psychosocial considerations into community irrigation development initiatives.