Gendered Property Rights in Farmer-Led Irrigation Development in Nyando Sub-County, Kenya: Myth or Reality?

Abstract

Gendered Property Rights are considered the decision-making powers of women over the disposition of a resource. This entails the access and control of the resource, and in this study, we use Farmer-led Irrigation Development (FLID) as the arena in which we determine whether decision-making has changed for women. FLID is an emerging form of irrigation that places the individual as the focal person in decision-making and therefore provides a rich environment for testing the true nature of Gendered Property Rights. The status of women in irrigated agriculture has received extensive coverage in current studies, with the studies showing men as having control over key resources and, therefore, having decision-making power over the same. How resources are used, what crops are planted, how the income generated is prioritized as well, and how labour is divided in the household are decisions made by men. However, gaps still exist in FLID, and this paper set out to explore how FLID has influenced Gendered Property Rights; the focus is on who has control over resources and whether there has been a shift in the everyday narrative of control being male-dominated. We use identified indicators to monitor outcomes in two different aspects: control over key resources (household assets, livestock, farming tools, and irrigation equipment) and decision-making about key issues (land, household, income generation, and water management). The study uses snowball sampling to identify 385 FLID irrigators in Nyando Sub County, Kenya, and twelve participants in 4 gender-differentiated FGDs from Ahero and Kabonyo/Kanyagwal wards. Results demonstrate that there has been a shift in the control over key resources, with the narrative moving towards joint control. Further, the study shows that joint control in key resources directly translates to joint control in decision-making and greatly increases the benefits accrued from irrigation practices. However, this gap is narrowing at a very slow pace and requires a shift in mindset as well.