Enhancing traditional floodwater governance for inclusive and resilient flood-based livelihood systems in Tana river floodplains, Kenya

Abstract

This paper analyses the effectiveness of traditional water governance in Floodbased Livelihood Systems (FBLS), which harness floods that could have caused environmental degradation. Ostrom's Governing the Commons Principles, widely recognized for the effective management of shared resources, is used as a framework. The paper draws from discussions with 300 farmers and pastoralists in Tana River FBLS, the oldest traditional system in Kenya. The traditional floodwater governance does not satisfy Ostrom's Principles and livelihood needs. Small-scale farmers and pastoralists frequently experience floodwater scarcity while large-scale farmers use excessive floods often causing waterlogging. This floodwater sharing disparity generates conflicts and threatens small-scale farmers' and pastoralists' livelihoods. Large-scale farmers are primarily concerned with inadequate floodwater management infrastructure that hampers maximizing their harvest. For increased sustainability and equity, fairer floodwater sharing systems and enforcing institutions should be introduced before infrastructural development. These lessons from Tana River can contribute to a larger livelihood potential for flood-based agriculture globally.

System-wide nexus analyses: water distribution rules, agricultural productivity and livelihoods in flood-based livelihood systems

“…Finally, inadequate farming practices could have played a role. Tana River farmers practice direct broadcast sowing, which results in high planting density, low germination rate and poor seed setting (Zenebe et al ., 2022). Field experiments conducted in several perennial irrigation systems in Kenya (Ndiiri et al ., 2013) and in Mali FBLS (Traore et al ., 2020) established that a farming system that combines transplanting of younger seedlings and wider spacing can increase rice productivity by up to 40%.…”

“…The annually irrigated areas in Table 1 correspond to the most frequent average flood season that occurs in 4 out of 5 yr (Khan et al ., 2014; Zenebe et al ., 2022). At 83% of the potential irrigable land, the annually irrigated area in DG Khan is much higher than that in Fogera floodplain and Tana River, which are respectively estimated at 37.5 and 24%.…”

“…Flood-based livelihood systems (FBLS) are large-scale water harvesting systems which make productive use of floods that are otherwise inherently unreliable in timing and volume and often destructive in nature (Zenebe et al ., 2022). FBLS cover 25 million hectares across water-stressed drylands in Africa and Asia, potentially providing water and food security for 50 million farmers and pastoralists (Puertas et al ., 2015).…”

“…Water distribution and management rules have received limited research focus and have also been largely passed over in FBLS investment programs. The few studies that discuss water management and governance (Mehari et al ., 2007; Castelli et al ., 2018; Zenebe et al ., 2022) mainly focus on documenting water distribution rules and analyzing their effectiveness in mitigating the unpredictability of floodwater. They do not adequately analyze the ‘nexus’ between water distribution rules on the one hand, and agricultural productivity and livelihoods on the other.…”

“…Further to its scientific significance, the system-wide analysis is imperative from a development perspective as there is increasing interest to invest into FBLS. For instance, the Kenyan government has a plan to develop 50,000 ha in the period 2020–2025 (Zenebe et al ., 2022). The World Bank have prepared some 20 million USD 5-yr investment across the FBLS in Sudan, which is expected to be implemented as soon as conducive local conditions are established (MoIWR, 2021).…”