Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Rural households in sub-Saharan Africa face intensifying water insecurity as climate change increases rainfall unpredictability and extends dry seasons, threatening both food security and household water access. While the study is
grounded in an agroecological perspective that considers whole farm and food systems, the sample reflects the diversity of livelihoods within the community, including smallholder farming households as well as small-scale traders and other residents whose water use and livelihood strategies are closely interconnected with local agricultural systems. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) has been widely promoted as a low-cost climate adaptation strategy, yet adoption rates in many rural contexts remain below expectations. Existing literature typically frames this
as an awareness-practice gap, in which farmers are aware of RWH but fail to adopt it. This study examines whether that framing applies in Lubanja Village, Busimbi Sub-County, Mityana District, Uganda, where RUCID, a local NGO and
agricultural training institution, is planning a community RWH support programme.
Using a mixed-methods case study design, this study collected data through a structured household questionnaire (n = 50) and informal interviews with community members (n = 8) and RUCID institutional representatives (n = 2). The questionnaire addressed climate perceptions, current RWH practices, formal awareness of RWH as a defined technology, attitudes and expectations, and barriers to adoption, which were subsequently analysed across economic, informational, social, and environmental dimensions.
Fisher's exact and Fisher-Freeman-Halton exact tests were used to test associations between adoption status and individual characteristics, and thematic analysis was used to identify recurring patterns in interview and open-ended
questionnaire data, which are used throughout the Results to illustrate and explain the quantitative findings. Findings reveal a 60.5% adoption rate of informal rainwater collection among Lubanja respondents; among these adopters, 65.4% had never heard of RWH as a formally defined concept, and this same subgroup had also received no water management training. Many adopters reported practising rainwater collection without prior formal RWH awareness or watermanagement training, driven by direct experience of water scarcity, a pattern distinct from the conventional awareness-practice gap. Yet these practices were found to be functionally insufficient to meet reported dry-season needs: the large majority of adopters reported that stored rainwater did not last through the dry season, and reported water use prioritised household and livestock needs over
crop irrigation, consistent with reduced crop yields and crop loss being among the most widely reported dry-season impacts.
These findings suggest that the primary gap in Lubanja is not between awareness and adoption, as hypothesised, but between existing informal practice and the functional adequacy required for that practice to reliably meet household needs through the dry season. RWH programming in this and comparable contexts should prioritise storage infrastructure support and technical upgrading of existing practice, while building awareness of standardised approaches, rather than defaulting to awareness-raising or behaviour change as the primary intervention mode. The study contributes to a broader understanding of how households in resource-constrained settings can develop informal, experiencebased water management practices without prior formal knowledge of RWH as a defined system, with implications for agroecologically oriented rural development
programming.