Security in flexibility: accessing land and water for irrigation in Kenya’s changing rural environment

Abstract

In the semi-arid lands of southern Kenya, a dynamic process of farmer-led irrigation has developed over the past two decades. It is characterised by short-term agreements to access land and water. Resident and migrant farmers, capital providers and local landowners have engaged in diverse partnerships to benefit from water and land along the Olkeriai sand river. This study aims to unravel which actors and motives drive the resulting highly dynamic forms of irrigation. Surveys, in-depth interviews and mapping exercises with farmers, capital providers and landowners were conducted over a period of 1.5 years. The results show that involved actors favour short-term lease and partnership arrangements and farmers frequently change fields along the river or leave the area and return. It is primarily the migrant farmers and capital providers who take decisions on when and where to move. They are informed by their experience with production factors, financial gains and losses, partner relations, or the ability to expand. We conclude that individualisation of land rights, migration, abundance of water, proximate markets, and rural-urban networks are instrumental to the emergence of this dynamic form of agriculture. Farmers have found a degree of security in flexibility, to access land and water in shifting fields and partners, rather than in property rights for specific plots. Yet, the short-term scope of these operations for monetary gains raises concerns about the sustainable use of land and water resources in the region.

Irrigation development under uncertainty: A call for adaptive investment pathways

“…We now illustrate the potential of AdIP using the example of sandriver supported small-scale irrigation development, which is based on our past and ongoing research, including lessons from our action research activities (Duker et al, 2020a(Duker et al, , 2022Karimba et al, 2022).…”

“…A strength of AdIP for irrigation development is that it is anchored in the practices of smallholders. Research (de Fraiture and Giordano, 2014;Duker et al, 2022;Karimba et al, 2022) shows that smallholders value flexibility and expand their operations organically by making incremental investments, keeping their risks low at all times, and adapting their plans with changing circumstances. Lumpsum investments in conventional irrigation schemes ignore this and require farmers to conform to farming practices that are pre-planned in the scheme.…”

“…Given these known challenges of large irrigation projects, combined with growing challenges from future uncertainties due to changing climate or socio-political environments, we see a danger in the conventional approach to irrigation planning. In this Perspective paper, we draw upon our (action) research experience on investments in small-holder irrigation development (Duker et al, 2020a(Duker et al, , 2022Karimba et al, 2022) to instead call for alternative ways of investments, which can adapt to a rapidly changing uncertain world, minimize adverse impacts to society and environment, and empower communities.…”

Shifting sands : Diversity and dynamics of farmer-led irrigation along sand rivers in Kenya and Zimbabwe

“…Because farmers are in the lead, they are better able to cope with and adjust to context-specific challenges and new opportunities, resulting in a dynamic yet non-linear form of smallholder irrigation (Hebinck et al, 2019). At the same time, farmer-led irrigation can be opportunistic, in cases where farmers and connected actors take advantage of available resources for short-term gains (de Bont et al, 2019a;Duker et al, 2022;. This diversity in farming is documented in several typologies of FLID, primarily based on factors like farm area and crops, technology sophistication, labour organisation and market orientation (Hebinck et al, 2019;Scoones et al, 2019;Izzi et al, 2021).…”

“…It seems implicitly assumed that irrigated agriculture, notably market-oriented farming, is the leading future trajectory and long-term aspiration for rural families who engage in farmer-led irrigation (Scoones et al, 2019;Kafle et al, 2022). Although in many cases this may be valid, examples from Eastern Africa indicate that commercial irrigators who are not home to the region where they farm, regard irrigation as 'any other business' and not necessarily as a long term livelihood source or vocation (de Bont et al, 2019a;Duker et al, 2022). These yet unrevealed motives may play a major role in the evolution of irrigation and thus have implications for irrigation policies and support programmes in sub-Saharan Africa.…”