Paper short abstract:

The study explores Nigeria's agricultural water policies through a meso-institutional lens, assessing their role in enhancing farming households' resilience to water insecurity. Findings highlight institutional overlaps, funding gaps, and the need for robust, adaptive, and transformative strategies.

Paper long abstract:

The effectiveness of agricultural water policies in addressing water insecurity challenges such as extreme droughts and flooding requires adequate institutional devices to adapt and implement these policies. This article explores the historical development of Nigeria’s agricultural water policies and evaluates the functions and tasks of the meso-institutions that implement them. Furthermore, it assesses how these meso-institutions enhance farming households’ resilience to weather-related shocks using the Resilience Assessment Tool. The findings reveal that meso-institutions are important for policy implementation by translating policies into actionable strategies and by monitoring and enforcing their implementation. However, their effectiveness is constrained by overlapping functions and tasks, leaving farming households vulnerable to water insecurity and weather-related shocks, particularly in rural areas. The study identifies key areas for improvement, including enhanced collaboration and coordination among meso-institutions, recognizing and addressing institutional overlaps, increasing investments in infrastructure, stronger capacity building, and the adoption of long-term water management strategies. These improvements are essential for bridging the gap between policy formulation and implementation, which will help to prevent economic and political transaction costs and support more effective agricultural water policies.