TY - JOUR
T1 - Collective Action for Sustainable Farmer Water Management
T2 - The Case of the KILIMO NA MAJI Serious Game
AU - Githinji, Margaret
AU - Speelman, Erika N.
AU - van Noordwijk, Meine
AU - Muthuri, Catherine
AU - Hofstede, Gert Jan
PY - 2024/11/8
Y1 - 2024/11/8
N2 - Background: Farmers in water scarce landscapes adapt in response to the erratic weather conditions. Adaptation through irrigation, depend on water access, while impacting on downstream water availability. Competition for scarce water commons among multiple users defines a collective action problem. Farmer land-, and water-use decisions are based on both economic rationality of cost-benefit expectations, and relational rationality of reconciling conflicting opinions of important person(s) in a farmer’s social world, such as other water users, government, or spirits. Serious games that represent this duality of choices can help both players and interested others to analyze how social relations influence farmer decision-making. Intervention: Here we describe the generic design and early experiences with specific use of the KILIMO NA MAJI game. The game is designed to analyse effect of social relations as farmers individually and/or collectively explore alternative options for crop production in scarce water commons. Methods: We designed and applied the game in the Mt. Kenya region; a semi-arid region, ranging across a gradient of upstream water abundance to downstream water scarcity. The design of the game was informed by literature, and information from local stakeholders. We analyzed data from the pilot game sessions to assess quality and effectiveness of the game using Likert scale and a ‘solution space’ which defines a bandwidth around the mean where tradeoffs between farm-income and water-use can be partially managed. Results: Playing the game with local stakeholders showed that social relations that participants had with traders, agro-export companies and other important persons determined where their game outcomes were positioned within the solution space. Conclusion: Playing KILIMO NA MAJI can help assess influence of social relations and support collective exploration of alternatives to crops production in water scarce landscapes.
AB - Background: Farmers in water scarce landscapes adapt in response to the erratic weather conditions. Adaptation through irrigation, depend on water access, while impacting on downstream water availability. Competition for scarce water commons among multiple users defines a collective action problem. Farmer land-, and water-use decisions are based on both economic rationality of cost-benefit expectations, and relational rationality of reconciling conflicting opinions of important person(s) in a farmer’s social world, such as other water users, government, or spirits. Serious games that represent this duality of choices can help both players and interested others to analyze how social relations influence farmer decision-making. Intervention: Here we describe the generic design and early experiences with specific use of the KILIMO NA MAJI game. The game is designed to analyse effect of social relations as farmers individually and/or collectively explore alternative options for crop production in scarce water commons. Methods: We designed and applied the game in the Mt. Kenya region; a semi-arid region, ranging across a gradient of upstream water abundance to downstream water scarcity. The design of the game was informed by literature, and information from local stakeholders. We analyzed data from the pilot game sessions to assess quality and effectiveness of the game using Likert scale and a ‘solution space’ which defines a bandwidth around the mean where tradeoffs between farm-income and water-use can be partially managed. Results: Playing the game with local stakeholders showed that social relations that participants had with traders, agro-export companies and other important persons determined where their game outcomes were positioned within the solution space. Conclusion: Playing KILIMO NA MAJI can help assess influence of social relations and support collective exploration of alternatives to crops production in water scarce landscapes.
KW - Collective action
KW - farmer decisions
KW - Mt. Kenya
KW - scarce water commons
KW - serious games
KW - social relations
U2 - 10.1177/10468781241287878
DO - 10.1177/10468781241287878
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85209199903
SN - 1046-8781
JO - Simulation and Gaming
JF - Simulation and Gaming
ER -