IJPSD

ISSN: 2360-784X

 International Journal of Political Science and Development
 

International Journal of Political Science and Development

Vol. 8(3), pp. 121-129, March, 2020. 

DOI: 10.14662/IJPSD2020.070

ISSN: 2360-784X

Research article

Influence of Distance to Water Source on Socio-Economic Factors in Tiva Catchment, Kitui County

Ngugi KN¹, Mureithi SM², Gichaba CM³ and Ertsen MW⁴

¹University of Nairobi;  P. O. Box 29053-00625, Nairobi, Kenya

¹South Eastern Kenya University; P.O. Box 170-90200, Kitui. (Corresponding Author: kngugi@seku.ac.ke ). Tel:+254722342271)

^2,3University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 29053-00625, Nairobi, Kenya (stemureithi@uonbi.ac.ke; maina.gichaba@gmail.com)

⁴Delft University of Technology - Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD Delft, Netherlands (m.w.ertsen@tudelft.nl)

Accepted 15 March 2020

Lack of water in Arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) result to inability to meet other human needs such as education and investment. In the arid Kitui county, education and livestock numbers are important social economic that are often hindered by lack of water. The objective of this study was to determine whether distance to a permanent water source had influence on attainment of education and livestock accumulation. The survey was carried out through interviews using a questionnaire. Results showed the level of education achieved by the residents is weakly correlated to distance to a permanent water source (R² = 0.13 and R² = 0.006 for secondary and tertiary level education respectively) for the children. For the fathers, the distance to a water source played a role in the level of education they attained. The level of education influenced the kind of livestock kept by the residents with the more educated preferring smaller livestock. There was likelihood other factors influenced the level of education sought by the residents for their children.

Key words; ASALs, distance, water source, education, livestock