ProductivewaterusesathouseholdlevelinruralKenyacase.pdfVIP

Productive water uses at household level in rural Kenya: case study of the Ukambani district a a b a Speelman S. , D’Haese L. , Ochieng C. , Vandermeulen V. , a Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University. b Master student at the Faculty of Bio-Science engineering, Ghent University Corresponding author: stijn.speelman@ugent.be Poster paper prepared for presentation at the International Association of Agricultural Economists Conference, Gold Coast, Australia, August 12-18, 2006 Copyright 2006 by Speelman et al. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. Productive water uses at household level in rural Kenya: case study of the Ukambani district Introduction Nowadays it is widely acknowledged that water is critical to all production chains of the economy. Its available quantity and quality affects output and economic growth (Sullivan, 2002; Biltonen and Dalton 2003). As human population grows, and as the level of economic development increases, human needs for water are growing and competition between different users (agriculture, industry, households, energy, environment) increases (Soussan, 2003; Rosegrant et al., 2002; Bouhia, 2001). This increasing pressure on water resources has resulted in a shift to a more holistic approach of water management, the integrated water resource management approach (IWRM). This approach outlines the evaluation in an integ