Socio-economic Effects and Impacts of Road Run- off Harvesting in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands: Case of Mbitini Ward, Kitui County, Kenya. BOBSAMMY MUNYOKI MWENDE JUNE, 2017 METAMETA Acronyms AGORA - Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture ASALs - Arid and Semi-Arid Lands HH - Household KeRRA - Kenya Rural Roads Authority KFSSG – Kenya food security steering group Masl – Meters above sea level SPSS - Statistical Package for Social Sciences RRH - Road Runoff Harvesting RWH - Road Water Harvesting 3 | P a g e Table of contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Acronyms ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................ 6 List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Road development .............................................................................................................................. 7 1.2 Road water harvesting potential .......................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER TWO: BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................... 10 2.1 Geographic Location and Description .............................................................................................. 10 2.2 Climate .............................................................................................................................................. 11 2.3 Farming and ways of livelihoods ...................................................................................................... 14 2.4 Scientific background on Road Water Harvesting ............................................................................ 14 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODOLOGY .......................................................... 20 3.1 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................................ 20 3.2 Research Objectives .......................................................................................................................... 20 3.3 Research Questions ........................................................................................................................... 21 3.4 Justification and significance of the Study ....................................................................................... 21 3.5 Research Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER FOUR: SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION ............................................................................ 26 4.1 Demographics ................................................................................................................................... 26 4.2 Household dynamics ......................................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER 5: AGRICULTURE AND WATER SITUATION .................................................................. 33 5.1 Agricultural production ..................................................................................................................... 33 5.2 Food security ..................................................................................................................................... 37 5.3 Water resources ................................................................................................................................. 39 CHAPTER SIX: ROAD RUN-OFF HARVESTING ................................................................................. 44 6.1 Methods of Road Water Harvesting .................................................................................................. 44 6.2 Awareness of Rain Water Harvesting Technologies ........................................................................ 46 6.3 Cost of constructing RRH system ..................................................................................................... 47 6.4 RRH system designs ......................................................................................................................... 48 6.5 Road run-off water use ...................................................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER SEVEN: CASE STUDIES ....................................................................................................... 53 4 | P a g e 7.1 Mutie Maluki .................................................................................................................................... 53 7.2 Daniel Mbiti ...................................................................................................................................... 55 CHAPTER EIGHT: COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS ................................................................................... 58 8.1 Economic viability of RRH systems ................................................................................................. 58 8.2 Comparison of RRH and Non-RRH ................................................................................................. 59 8.3 Profitability of RRH .......................................................................................................................... 61 CHAPTER NINE: DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................................................ 64 9.1 Research methodology ...................................................................................................................... 64 9.2 Results ............................................................................................................................................... 65 CHAPTER TEN: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................... 67 10.1 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 67 10.2 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 68 References ................................................................................................................................................... 72 Annex 1: House Hold Survey Questionnaire .......................................................................................... 75 Annex 2: Difference between HH practicing RHW and those not practicing RWH .............................. 87 Annex 3: Cost-benefit analysis of farmers practicing RRH in Mbitini ward, Kitui County. .................. 91 5 | P a g e List of Figures Figure 1: Location of Mbitini in Kenya ........................................................................................................ 10 Figure 2: Google earth image of Mbitini town ........................................................................................... 11 Figure 3: Rainfall distribution from 2009 - 2016 for Kitui County .............................................................. 13 Figure 4: Impact of RRH on in situ moisture content in soils ..................................................................... 16 Figure 5: Some of the road runoff solutions that can be utilized by Kitui farmers ................................... 18 Figure 6: Gender and age of respondents in Mbitini .................................................................................. 26 Figure 7: Sources of livelihoods for different age groups in Mbitini .......................................................... 27 Figure 8: Gender categories among respondents from HH interviews of Mbitini Ward ........................... 27 Figure 9: Main occupations of Household heads in Mbitini ....................................................................... 29 Figure 10: Main sources of income for households of Mbitini ................................................................... 30 Figure 11: Gender dynamics of education in Mbitini ................................................................................. 31 Figure 12: Land ownership in Mbitini ......................................................................................................... 33 Figure 13: Land subdivision in Mbititni ....................................................................................................... 34 Figure 14: Strategies on how households in Mbitini cope with food insecurity ........................................ 38 Figure 15: Household's main sources of water in Mbitini .......................................................................... 40 Figure 16: Reasons why Mbitini residents buy water ................................................................................. 42 Figure 17: Road catchment in Mbitini .......................................................................................................