Water access and household economic insecurity: conceptual framework and econometric analysis applied to rural Nepal

ABSTRACT

We develop a conceptual framework to understand linkages between water access and livelihood outcomes. We apply the framework to assess factors altering the likelihood of household indebtedness in rural Nepal, using survey data and probit statistical models. Controlling for different household characteristics, results show that in Nepal’s Kamala basin, an additional month of water adequate to sustain crops decreases by 5% the likelihood that an average household in our sample reports high indebtedness. We complement our findings by discussing interacting drivers of agricultural livelihood outcomes; options to improve water availability and access; and geographical targeting of investment in water access.

KEYWORDS:

• Cross-sectional household data
• livelihoods
• regional analysis
• household indebtedness
• Nepal

Acknowledgements

We thank an anonymous reviewer and editor for helpful comments provided. We acknowledge the Nepal–Australia Joint Advisory Committee for Water Resources Management, Jalsrot Vikas Sanstha, Policy Entrepreneurs Inc., Ram C. Bastakoti, Emily J. Barbour, Auro Almeida and Susan Cuddy.

Author contributions

Conceptualization and methodology: D.F-M. and T.F.; formal analysis: D.F-M.; resources: S.M.W. and D.J.P.; writing – original draft preparation: T.F. and D.F-M.; writing – review and editing: T.F., D.F-M., G.R., N.N., S.M.W. and D.J.P.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2021.1999217

Additional information

Funding

This article contributes to the South Asia Sustainable Development Investment Portfolio supported by the Australian Aid programme. It was co-funded by CSIRO Land and Water.