CROP DIVERSIFICATION, IRRIGATION TECHNIQUES AND HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN THE ARID AND SEMI-ARID LANDS OF KENYA: EVIDENCE FROM SUSWA WARD, NAROK COUNTY

Households in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) face compounding climatic pressures that undermine the availability, access, utilization and stability dimensions of food security. Crop diversification and irrigation are two of the most widely promoted household-level adaptation responses, yet evidence on whether they translate into measurable food security gains in pastoral and agro-pastoral settings remains thin and geographically uneven. This study examined the effect of crop diversification and irrigation techniques on household food security in Suswa Ward, Narok East Sub-County, Narok County, Kenya. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was adopted. From a target population of 2,507 households, a sample of 345 was determined using the Miller and Brewer (2021) formula and drawn through stratified and systematic random sampling; 338 usable questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 98.0%. Structured questionnaires generated quantitative data, while a semi-structured guide was administered to eight purposively selected key informants. Instruments were piloted on 35 respondents in Sogoo Ward, Narok West Sub-County. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 28 using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and multiple linear regression, alongside thematic analysis of the qualitative strand. Crop diversification recorded a moderate overall mean (M = 3.23, SD = 0.93) and irrigation techniques the lower of the two (M = 3.02, SD = 0.99), against a household food security mean of 3.50 (SD = 0.87). Both correlated significantly and positively with food security (r = .423, p < .01 and r = .387, p < .01 respectively). In a regression model that was statistically significant overall (F(4, 333) = 48.217, p < .001; R² = .377), crop diversification (β = .198, t = 3.397, p = .001) and irrigation techniques (β = .172, t = 3.086, p = .002) each made a significant independent contribution. Both strategies significantly improve household food security, but their effect is depressed by infrastructural and institutional deficits rather than by farmer unwillingness. Sensitization alone will not convert adaptation knowledge into food security; investment in water harvesting and storage, small-scale irrigation, extension staffing and agricultural credit is the binding requirement in ASAL wards such as Suswa.