Institutional Analysis of Agri-Environmental Externalities : Issues on Collective Action and Technology Diffusion in the Lake Naivasha Basin, Kenya

Lake Naivasha is the second largest fresh water lake in Kenya and the only fresh water Lake located in Kenya’s Rift Valley. Its basin supports important economic activities such as floriculture, horticulture, food crop production, tourism, fisheries, pastoralism and geothermal electricity generation. Agriculture is the most dominant type of land use in the basin and has substantial direct effects on the Lake Naivasha ecosystem. These effects are manifested through the dependence of the sector on the ecosystem for provisioning, supporting and regulating ecosystem services. As a result of these agri-environmental interactions, the basin has been grappling with three main environmental challenges: siltation, eutrophication and water scarcity. Through these challenges resource users impose unilateral negative externalities on third parties causing a policy challenge. The goal of this thesis is to identify the institutional challenges encountered while seeking solutions to these environmental problems. It also seeks to analyze the diffusion process of technologies that help to mitigate negative agri-environmental externalities. The thesis is composed of four empirical studies, each addressing a specific objective. All the studies utilized cross-sectional household survey data collected from 308 randomly selected farm households from the Lake Naivasha basin, Kenya. The first empirical chapter identifies co-operators and defectors among the sampled households using two step cluster analysis. Motivated by the theory of collective action, a logistic regression model was used to identify the factors influencing the cooperative behaviour of households. In the next chapter, propensity score matching and exogenous switching regression models were used to assess the effect of implementing multiple soil conservation practices on the value of crop production. The third empirical chapter used a two step regression procedure to assess the influence of participation in collective action and neighbourhood social influence on farm level soil conservation efforts. Finally, a parametric econometric log-logistic duration model was used to analyze the diffusion of rain water harvesting techniques among the sampled households. The results from the above analyses indicate that the sampled households are predominantly defectors. The tendency to cooperate is influenced by expected benefits, labour endowments, human capital, social sanctions and norms of trust. With regard to private economic benefits of soil conservation practices, the results indicate that multiple soil conservation practices generate higher value of crop production. However, the results indicate that under certain circumstances, these additional positive benefits might not be substantial enough to cover the opportunity costs associated with these practices. Therefore, it was thought important to assess whether there are other factors besides private economic benefits that could motivate farmers to adopt soil conservation practices. It emerged from the results of the third empirical study that participation in collective action is a significant determinant of the soil conservation effort among the sampled households. Secondly, results indicate that social control that emerges from neighbourhood social influence and subjective norms are also key determinants of soil conservation efforts. Therefore, social control can substitute for pure economic incentives as a motivation for engaging in soil conservation. The results from the final empirical study indicate that rainfall variability, access to information and socio-demographic attributes such as age and education level are the key drivers of the process of diffusion of rain water harvesting techniques. It emerged that technology adoption has become more of an endogenous process of social exchange within communities and less driven by external natural predicament and persuasion by external agents. Informal sources of information have emerged as an important medium of technology dissemination. For each of these results we draw imperative policy implications pointing out areas where policy could focus on so as to enhance mitigation of agri-environmental externalities.Institutionelle Analyse der Agrar-Umwelt Externalitäten: Aspekte zum kollektiven Handeln und Technologieverbreitung im Becken des Naivasha Sees in Kenia Der Naivasha See ist der zweitgrößte Süßwassersee in Kenia und der einzige Süßwassersee in Kenias „Rift Valley“. Das Wasser des Sees stellt eine wichtige Grundlage für eine Vielzahl von wirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten rund um den See dar, darunter Blumenzucht, Gemüse und Obstanbau für den Export, Landwirtschaft, Tourismus, Fischerei, Weidewirtschaft und geothermischen Stromerzeugung. Die Landwirtschaft stellt der dominierenden Landnutzungstyp dar und wirkt sich so wesentlich auf das Ökosystem rund um den See aus. Diese Auswirkungen sind bedingt durch die Abhängigkeit der Landwirtschaft von unterstützenden, regulierenden und bereitstellenden Ökosystemdienstleistungen des Sees. Resultierend aus der Wechselwirkung zwischen Umwelt und Agrarwirtschaft im Seebecken ergeben sich drei wesentliche Probleme: Verschlammung, Eutrophierung und Wasserknappheit. Durch diese bürden die Ressourcennutzer Dritten unilateral negative Externalitäten auf, welches eine Herausforderung für die Politik bedeutet. Die durch die wirtschaftliche Nutzung des Sees einseitig verursachten negativen Auswirkungen auf Dritte ziehen agrarpolitische Herausforderungen nach sich. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, die institutionellen Herausforderungen zu identifizieren und Lösungen für die bestehenden ökologischen Probleme zu suchen. Ferner wird der Diffusionsprozessvon Technologien analysiert, welche helfen, die negativen agrarökologischen Auswirkungen zu vermindern. Die Arbeit setzt sich aus vier empirischen Untersuchungen mit jeweils spezifischen Zielsetzungen zusammen. Für alle Untersuchungen wurden Querschnittsdaten auf Haushaltsebene verwendet, die von 308 zufällig ausgewählten landwirtschaftlichen Haushalten im Becken des Naivasha Sees stammen. Mit Hilfe einer zweistufigen Cluster-Analyse wurden im ersten empirischen Kapitel kooperierende und nicht-kooperierende Haushalte in der Stichprobe ermittelt. Angeregt durch die Theorie des kollektiven Handelns wurde ein logistisches Regressionsmodel genutzt, um die Einflussfaktoren für das Kooperationsverhalten in Haushalten festzustellen. Im nächsten Kapitel wurden zur Beurteilung der Auswirkungen verschiedener Bodenschutzmethoden auf den Produktionswert der pflanzlichen Erzeugung das Propensity Score Matching und Exogenous Switching Regression Modelle verwendet. Für das dritte empirische Kapitel wurde mit einem zweistufigen Regressionsmodell der Einfluss der Beteiligung an gemeinschaftlichen Maßnahmen sowie der soziale Einfluss der Nachbarschaft auf Bodenerhaltungsanstrengungen auf Betriebsebene geschätzt. Abschließend wurde ein parametrisches ökonometrisches log-logistisches Durationsmodell genutzt, um die Verbreitung von Regenwasserspeicherungstechniken in den befragten Haushalten zu untersuchen. Die Ergebnisse der oben genannten Analysen zeigten, dass sich die befragten Haushalte in erster Linie nicht-kooperativ verhalten. Es wurde festgestellt, dass die Tendenz zu kooperieren von den zu erwartenden Vorteilen, Arbeitsverfügbarkeit, Humankapital, gesellschaftlichen Sanktionen sowie Normen des Vertrauens beeinflusst wird. Im Hinblick auf den privaten wirtschaftlichen Nutzen der Bodenschutzmethoden deuten die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass integrierte Bodenschutzmethoden einen höheren Produktionswert des Pflanzenanbaus erzeugen. Allerdings zeigen die Ergebnisse auch, dass dieser zusätzliche positive Nutzen unter gewissen Umständen möglicherweise zu gering ist, um die entstehenden Opportunitätskosten zu decken. Deshalb wurde es als wichtig erachtet, neben dem privaten wirtschaftlichen Nutzen mögliche andere Faktoren zu identifizieren, die die Landwirte dazu motivieren könnten, die Bodenschutzmethoden anzuwenden. Die Ergebnisse der dritten empirischen Studie machten deutlich, dass bei den befragten Haushalten die Teilnahme an kollektiven Maßnahmen ein entscheidender Faktor für die Bodenschutzbemühungen ist. Zweitens zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass soziale Kontrolle, die durch den sozialen Einfluss der Nachbarschaft entsteht, und subjektive Normen ebenfalls Schlüsseldeterminanten für Maßnahmen zur Bodenerhaltung sind. Also können soziale Kontrolle und soziale Normen rein ökonomische Anreize zur Implementierung von Bodenschutzmechanismen ersetzen. Die Ergebnisse der letzten empirischen Studie zeigen, dass Niederschlagsschwankungen, der Zugang zu Informationen und soziodemographische Merkmale wie Alter und Bildungsniveau die treibenden Kräfte im Diffusionsprozess der Regenwasserspeicherungstechnologien sind. Es wurde deutlich, dass die Adaption von Technologien mehr ein endogener Prozess eines sozialen Austauschs innerhalb von Gemeinschaften ist und weniger von externen Natureinflüssen oder der Beeinflussung durch externe Vermittler getrieben ist. Informelle Informationsquellen haben sich als ein wichtiges Medium zur Technologieverbreitung herausgestellt. Für jedes dieser Ergebnisse wurden wichtige Politikimplikationen aufgezeigt, die Politikfelder herausstellen, auf die sich die Politik fokussieren könnte, um die Vermeidung von Agrar-Umwelt Externalitäten der agrarischen Produktion zu fördern

IMPACT OF POLICY AND SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS ON SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN RIVER NJORO WATERSHED, KENYA

Livestock production is an important contributor to rural development. In the past two decades, developing countries have experienced changes in market structures, climate and demographic characteristics. These changes have been accompanied by fast growth in demand for livestock products and the increasing dependence on livestock for sustainable livelihood systems. In response to these changes, there has been rapid land use and land cover changes, characterized by expansion of agricultural land, and land fragmentation. This has caused environmental degradation in several rural areas, including the River Njoro watershed. Policy makers and development agents are therefore, facing a dilemma on trade-offs between meeting the expanding demand for livestock products and sustainable utilization of the limited stock of natural resources. At the backdrop of this dilemma, this study sought to identify and characterize livestock production systems in Njoro River watershed using principal components and cluster analysis. A multinomial logistic regression model was then used to determine the factors that influence the spatial distribution of livestock production systems and Changes in Land Use Efficiency for Small extent (CLUE- S) model used to assess the effect of suggested policies on the spatial distribution of livestock production systems. Primary data used in the study was collected using a household survey. Data was managed and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v15, STATA V9, and (CLUE-S) Modeling softwares. Results indicate that farmers in the watershed fall under three major livestock production systems: Intensive, Semi intensive, and Extensive. Land size, access to extension services, age of household head, altitude of the farm, distance of farm household to the river, number of extension visits, value of physical assets, access to credit, household size, household income, and involvement in off-farm activity are the factors found to significantly influence changes in livestock production systems. It was also observed that if the current trends in land use changes continue, the production of livestock products will continue to decline in the future. This study concludes that if the growth in food production has to surpass the population growth rate, relevant policy issues to enhance sustainable livestock production have to be addressed. Policy implications drawn from this study have focused on incentives for intensification, institutional reforms, improving livestock productivity, and innovations that enhance the synergies between livestock production and the environment.Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries,

Factors Affecting Completion of Government Funded Projects, a Survey of Projects in the Ministry of Water and Environment

One of the major problems faced by projects is on timely task completion which is the ultimate goal in any project. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting completion of government projects in the Ministry of Water and Environment. The study sought to identify the effects of timeliness of payments of contracts; skills of project manager; political intervention and project planning process on completion of projects in the Ministry of Water and environment. The research design employed in this study was the survey method where the top management in the Ministry of Water and environment were targeted. A sample size of 30 respondents was selected – 15 respondents from Ministry and 15 Contractors who have been engaged in the Ministry’s projects before. The researcher used primary data (questionnaires and interviews) to carry out the study. The questionnaires included structured (close-ended) and unstructured (open-ended) questions. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The descriptive statistical tools helped the researcher to describe the data and the features of data that were of interest. The mode (most commonly attained measurement or value) was used more so to analyse the responses in the questionnaires. This was used as the response/measurement that appears most in a particular question/variable among a sample of subjects. From the findings the researcher concluded that, the success of any projects is dependent on a number of factors which include timeliness of payment which affects completion to a great extent (mean of 3.7), Skills of the project manager moderately influences completion (mean of 3.4), political interferences on the other hand influences completion to a great extent (mean of 3.6) and project planning which influences completion to a moderate extent (mean 3.1). The researcher recommends that though teamwork management is employed to a great extent among the building professionals in Kenya, completion of government projects courses should be incorporated in the training of professional to enhance their skills to higher levels, payment procedures should be simple and well laid down, those involved in projects should be familiarize themselves with dispute resolution procedures, there should be a culture change in our political group and goals should be communicated at commencement of a project

The Impact of Payments for Reforestation in the Mexican State Michoacán

As a means to adapt to climate change, the Mexican government grants, since 2003, payments as an incentive for landholders to conserve, maintain and increase the provision of environmental services through the promotion of a forestry strategy. This paper contributes to the literature with an empirical analysis of the impact of payments for reforestation in one of the states with the highest rates of deforestation, Michoac n. The impact is estimated by means of panel data regressions and propensity score matching. Our results suggest that the payments are not contributing to the overall reforestation in Michoac n because of the existence of leakage in areas that are not participating in the program. Our analysis underlines the challenges faced when implementing financial incentive based programs and provides policy makers with evidence for improving the design of such programs

IMPACT OF POLICY AND SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS ON SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN RIVER NJORO WATERSHED, KENYA

Livestock production is an important contributor to rural development. In the past two decades, developing countries have experienced changes in market structures, climate and demographic characteristics. These changes have been accompanied by fast growth in demand for livestock products and the increasing dependence on livestock for sustainable livelihood systems. In response to these changes, there has been rapid land use and land cover changes, characterized by expansion of agricultural land, and land fragmentation. This has caused environmental degradation in several rural areas, including the River Njoro watershed. Policy makers and development agents are therefore, facing a dilemma on trade-offs between meeting the expanding demand for livestock products and sustainable utilization of the limited stock of natural resources. At the backdrop of this dilemma, this study sought to identify and characterize livestock production systems in Njoro River watershed using principal components and cluster analysis. A multinomial logistic regression model was then used to determine the factors that influence the spatial distribution of livestock production systems and Changes in Land Use Efficiency for Small extent (CLUE- S) model used to assess the effect of suggested policies on the spatial distribution of livestock production systems. Primary data used in the study was collected using a household survey. Data was managed and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v15, STATA V9, and (CLUE-S) Modeling softwares. Results indicate that farmers in the watershed fall under three major livestock production systems: Intensive, Semi intensive, and Extensive. Land size, access to extension services, age of household head, altitude of the farm, distance of farm household to the river, number of extension visits, value of physical assets, access to credit, household size, household income, and involvement in off-farm activity are the factors found to significantly influence changes in livestock production systems. It was also observed that if the current trends in land use changes continue, the production of livestock products will continue to decline in the future. This study concludes that if the growth in food production has to surpass the population growth rate, relevant policy issues to enhance sustainable livestock production have to be addressed. Policy implications drawn from this study have focused on incentives for intensification, institutional reforms, improving livestock productivity, and innovations that enhance the synergies between livestock production and the environment

Adaptation to Rising Population Density: Voices from Rural Kenya

This study provides empirical evidence on the link between population density and agricultural intensification and other strategies that rural communities use to adapt to increasing population density. The qualitative data used in this study were collected through Focus group discussions (FGDs) among experienced community members who provided historical accounts on the dynamics of rural communities and transitions in agriculture that can be linked to scarcity of land associated with population density growth. The results generated by this study offer some insights on the link between population density growth and agricultural development. The study finds evidence of a Boserupian type of agricultural transformation in rural Kenya. Rural communities mainly responded to scarcity of land through agricultural intensification, migration and off farm diversification. Unsustainable land fragmentation, decline in agricultural outputs and incomes and deterioration in soil quality were cited as key phenomena accompanying the strategies adopted in response to population density growth. From the results we draw some policy implications that can provide insights to policy makers to guide sustainable agricultural development in the densely populated areas which include reversal of land fragmentation, improved market access, proper use of fertilizers and land policies that encourage migration into scarcely populated areas

Can Economic and Environmental Benefits Associated with Agricultural Intensification be Sustained at High Population Densities? A Farm Level Empirical Analysis

The Boserupian theory holds that population density growth can be accompanied by sustainable agricultural intensification (Boserup, 1965). However, it is not certain whether the positive link between population density and environmental/economic benefits associated with agricultural intensification are indefinite. The current study utilizes cross sectional data from a random sample of farm households drawn from two densely populated Counties in Kenya to assess whether Boserupian agricultural intensification is sustainable at high population densities. The study utilizes a robust approach that incorporates soil quality parameters into economic analysis to assess the effect of population density on soil quality and crop productivity. It employs non- parametric regression, OLS regression and asymmetric trans-log production function estimation methods. Results indicate that at low a population density, endogenous sustainable agricultural intensification occurs, which is associated with improvements in soil quality and crop yields. However, as population densities exceed 600 persons/Km2, soil quality attributes such as soil texture, soil pH levels and fertility indicators such as soil organic matter (SOM) and electrical conductivity (EC) start to deteriorate. The end result of deteriorating soil quality is binding of critical nutrients and thus reduction in the crop yield response to fertilizer application. This reduces crop productivity and consequently returns to agriculture. These findings have imperative policy bearing on livelihoods and smallholder agriculture considering that a large proportion of sub-Saharan Africa’s population is dependent on rain-fed agriculture and population densities continue grow

Analysis of participation in collective action initiatives for addressing unilateral agri-environmental externalities

The fact that agriculture is associated with negative external effects on ecosystems is of great concern. Most of these agri-environmental externalities are public goods in nature and therefore solving them through conventional market and regulation tools is challenging. Collective action has been identified as an option in dealing with externalities emanating from activities touching on agriculture and the environment especially in circumstances where markets and government regulation are not effective. In this paper we assess the potential for agri-environmental cooperation in dealing with agri-environmental externalities. The study achieves this objective using cross-sectional household survey data collected from 308 households in the Lake Naivasha basin, Kenya. Results indicate that non-cooperation is a dominant strategy in the Lake Naivasha basin. The study also identifies factors that influence the probability of cooperating and therefore could be catalysts to encourage cooperation. Such factors include expected private incentives, labour endowments and agricultural commercialization. Positive perceptions and attitudes, presence of social sanctions and norms of trust were also found to significantly influence cooperation. To deal with agri-environmental challenges through cooperation, policy needs to focus on facilitating selective incentives, awareness creation and embracing local participation in resource management

Payments for Environmental Services (PES) and the Characteristics of Social Ecological Systems: the Case of Lake Naivasha Basin

After a brief description of the ecological problems faced in the Lake Naivasha basin in Kenya, this paper describes shortcomings of existing environmental policy instruments employed by the Kenyan government. We argue that under certain conditions a bargaining process among commercial resource users at the lake and farmers at the upper catchments could enhance the robustness of this specific social ecological system (SES) by making use of Payments for Environmental Services (PES). The necessary conditions are: lake users’ perception of damages from permanent environmental problems like siltation and eutrophication that can be addressed by actions in the upper catchment, a minimal back up from the government that allows user groups to enforce their own rules, and a sufficient level of trust inside and between the different user groups. At the same time, the analysis identifies substantial obstacles for using PES to reduce water abstractions in the upper catchment and points out that the nature of the ecological problems and the societal situation at the lake interdependently determine the success probabilities of PES