Relationship between adoption of water harvesting, water conservation, irrigation Technologies and nutrition Status of Children under five years in Central Division, Isiolo County, Kenya

Abstract

The food security situation in Africa is declining due to low agricultural productivity caused by decline in land availability, soil fertility depletion, soil erosion and unpredictable rainfall. Kenya remains food insecure and is increasingly relying on emergency food supplies. In 2011, about 2.4 million persons required urgent food assistance up from 1.6 million in August 2010. The high levels of food insecurity are exhibited by high rates of malnutrition above WHO threshold of 15%. Studies show that adoption of water harvesting, water conservatien and irrigation technologies have the potential to increase food production and hence improve food availability and income at the household level. A cross sectional survey was conducted in seven farming schemes in Central Division, Isiolo Sub-County, Isiolo County, Kenya. The study objectives were: to assess the level of adoption of water harvesting, conservation and irrigation technologies assess the dietary diversity among households and assess the nutrition status of children under five years of age in the study area. The study was to provide information on the level of adoption of water harvesting, conservation and irrigation technologies in the study area. The study was also to establish the relationship between adoption of water harvesting, -----CO~~servatioI1andm·igatlOn te-cJlIl-ofo-giesaI1d lrutrition status-of childrenunder five years of age-:-The study adopted Proportion to Population Size sampling with the number of households selected per farming scheme proportional to number of families in the farming scheme. The study targeted 1361 eligible households .A sample size of 257 households was calculated using the Fisher et al formula. Households to participate in the-study were randomly selected. In the sampled households, demographic data, social economic, adoption of water harvesting, conservation and irrigation technologies as well as anthropometric data and dietary diversity of children under five years of age were collected. Nutritional status data was analysed using ENA-SMART software to generate Z scores. Pearson correlation was used to establish the relationship between quantitative variables and binary logistic regression was used to establish relationship between technologies adopted and the nutrition indices of the children. Results showed that mulching and addition of organic matter was adopted by the highest proportion of farmers, 74.2% and 66.4% respectively but there was low adoption of water harvesting (5.5%). Surface irrigation was adopted by higher proportion of farmers (63%) compared to sprinkler (34.2%) and drip irrigation (0.4%). The number of eating occasions per day and dietary diversity of children in the study area was better compared to other areas in Isiolo. Over three -quarters of the children (76.7%) consumed three to four meals per day. In addition, 67.4% of them consumed between four and six food groups while 32.5% consumed less than three food groups. The prevalence of wasting (10.1%), stunting (19.2%), and underweight (23.9%) among children in the farming schemes was lower than in other parts of Isiolo. Binary logistic regression showed no statistical significance between adoption of technologies and nutritional status of children. There is need to train farmers in the study area on water harvesting and efficient methods of irrigation such as drip irrigation. There is also need for continuous monitoring of nutritional status of children under five years of age in the study area