Usufruct rights to trees (Ekwar) in the Turkana silvo-pastoral system are an important aspect of natural resource management, particularly in the drier central parts of Kenya. Originating from a participatory forestry extension program, a survey was carried out that showed the extent and duration, often in excess of one generation, of occupancy of a person’s Ekwar. Such rights center around the dry season fodder resources, especially of Acacia tortilis. However they are not definite and are linked to risk-spreading by flexibility in livestock management and the need that they be maintained through efficient usage and social linkages. Hitherto, such natural resource management systems have all but been ignored in the development process in favor of the “tragedy of the commons” paradigm. Likewise, pastoral development has tended to emphasize range and water, while trees are not given the attention they deserve. This endangers the resilience of the system, and it is therefore important that development works with, not against, such environmentally-sound practices to try to make them more sustainable in the long term.
Tag: pastoralism
Determinants of Adoption of Multiple Climate-Smart Adaptation Practices in Sudano-Sahelian Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Production Systems
To improve their ability to plan for and respond to potential negative impacts of climate shocks, such as droughts and dry spells, in the Sahelian agricultural production systems, many farmers have adopted diversified coping and adaptation strategies to secure their livelihoods. However, the scientific understanding of the key factors that determine the decisions that these pastoralist and agro-pastoralist households make, as well as the relation between existing human, social, natural, physical and financial assets and the adoption of adaptation practices at the household level has remained insufficient. Therefore, multivariate probit estimates were used to identify the key drivers of multiple adoption of climate-smart agro-pastoral adaptation practices in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Burkina Faso. The results indicated that respondent households adopted a combination of adaptation practices rather than a single practice. Most of these practices aimed at enhancing household food security and livelihoods. Regarding the variables that are related to the adoption of these adaptation practices overall, a few assets were found to contribute significantly to the decision to adopt the assessed adaption practices. These include the possession of household and farm assets and equipment, membership in associations and assistance from government, farming experience of the household head, access to credit, as well as ownership and size of farmland. In addition, access to climate and agronomic information, as well as a household’s location within a specifically dedicated pastoral zone, enhanced uptake of various adaptation practices in this study. Access to these assets and features hence plays a critical role in pastoralists’ and agro-pastoralists’ adaptive capacity. This study provides insights for policy makers in view of climate change adaptation and wider sustainable development planning in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Africa.
Evaluating the effectiveness of partcipatory agroforestry extension programmes in a pastoral system, based on existing traditional values: a case study of the Turkana in Kenya
The Turkana silvo-pastoral system is a traditional natural resource management strategy for dry lands that forms a sensible basis for improvement. Involvement of the local people is vital in adapting and improving the system, to bring out the potentials that exist in terms of broad land management strategies and more specifically in terms of individual tree species. The participatory extension process being used by the forestry department is presented. It relates to the traditional natural management base as a means of trying to identify potentials, constraints, problems and solutions. Such extension programmes are difficult to evaluate. The data gathering methods for evaluating such extension work, involving over 6000 people, is discussed in the light of a mobile people, lack of sampling frame and large distances in an arid and semi-arid environment. The results of two surveys, together with other informal data gathering mechanisms, show that change is taking place, particularly in qualitative terms, and indicates the effectiveness of the participatory extension programme.
Effects of human-livestock-wildlife interactions on habitat in an Eastern Kenya rangeland
Human-livestock-wildlife interactions have increased in Kenyan rangelands in recent years, but few attempts have been made to evaluate their impact on the rangeland habitat. This study identified drivers of increased human-livestock-wildlife interactions in the Meru Conservation Area between 1980 and 2000 and their effects on the vegetation community structure. The drivers were habitat fragmentation, decline in pastoral grazing range, loss of wildlife dispersal areas and increase in livestock population density. Agricultural encroachment increased by over 76% in the western zone adjoining Nyambene ranges and the southern Tharaka area, substantially reducing the pastoral grazing range and wildlife dispersal areas. Livestock population increased by 41%, subjecting areas left for pastoral grazing in the northern dispersal area to prolonged heavy grazing that gave woody plant species a competitive edge over herbaceous life-forms. Consequently, open wooded grassland, which was the dominant vegetation community in 1980, decreased by c. 40% as bushland vegetation increased by 42%. A substantial proportion of agro pastoralists were encountered around Kinna and Rapsu, areas that were predominantly occupied by pastoralists three decades ago, indicating a possible shift in land use in order to spread risks associated with habitat alterations.
Managing grasslands for planet and profits: The essential role of pastoralism
This brief shares key insights from the programme’s development at scale of effective livestock management interventions, learning from the environmental value of nomadic pastoralism.
An oasis in the dryland of Kenya! The case of irrigation as an adaptation strategy among the transitioning pastoralists and agro-pastoralists of Laikipia County, Kenya
Irrigation as a climate-smart practice in agriculture is identified as a strategy accompanying the transformation witnessed where the dryland community is transitioning from pastoralism to agro-pastoralism. This community is learning and nurturing new adaptation strategies to adapt to the diminishing yet crucial natural resources. This article identifies the socio-economic factors that encourage or hinder the uptake of irrigation as an adaptation strategy among the dryland community in Laikipia County, Kenya. The Heckman probit model is used first, to assess a total of 494 household on how they perceive climate change, and secondly it identifies the drivers that either encourage these households or hinder them from adopting irrigation as an adaptation strategy. Results indicate that 80% of the households investigated experience the indicators of climate change, out of this, 32% adopted irrigation as an adaptation strategy to climatic changes among other livelihood changes. The drivers encouraging this uptake are identified as: quality of land for food production (1.152∗∗), assistance received from government (0.906∗∗), large livestock herd size, governance of community land tenure (1.556∗∗) and agronomic information (1.094∗∗∗). There is low possibility of adopting irrigation by older household heads (−0.0219∗) and those with small livestock herds (−0.473∗). The sustainable development of agriculture promoted in these dryland regions requires a broader policy response that looks at the sustainability of irrigation as an adaption strategy in the dryland. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd
Social differentiation in climate change adaptation: One community, multiple pathways in transitioning Kenyan pastoralism
Climate change adaptation literature on pastoralists often embraces a systems approach that uses aggregate analysis, giving a false assumption of community homogeneity. It assumes that a pastoral community is a coherent unit, an assumption that does not adequately capture the increasingly differentiated adaptation pathways. Analyzing key adaptation practices among Maasai (agro-) pastoralists’ of Laikipia County, we outline how wealth, age and gender differentiate actors’ adaptation pathways. We argue that adaptation pathways are political processes highly negotiated by these elements of social differentiation and that individual actors adaptation opportunities are substantially shaped by their social positions. Additionally, we make the case for using adaptation practices as focal points for adaptation pathways research because this methodological choice allows unpacking who, why and how questions in the uptake of emerging technical adaptation practices, especially how they are influenced by individual social positions of wealth, age and gender.
Propensity to adapt to climate change: insights from pastoralist and agro-pastoralist households of Laikipia County, Kenya
Climate change is a reality in Africa’s drylands. Pastoralists are engaging and embracing a range of adaptive strategies to adjust to these changes. The socioeconomic factors driving them to engage in a portfolio of multiple adaptation strategies have not been adequately addressed in the existing literature. A multivariate probit model was used to analyze them as determinants of adaptive capacity that promotes or hinders adaptation to climate change. Adaptation is represented by uptake of multiple strategies (irrigation, livestock migration, fodder production, and improved livestock breeds) by households, a demonstration of a household’s ability to diversify and adapt to the effects of climate change. The household asset base, particularly social capital represented by government assistance, stands out as it positively influenced by the uptake of four out of five adaptation strategies; that is, irrigation, livestock manure, fodder production, and improved breeds. Information heavily supports the adaptation process as it influenced all the five adaptation strategies analyzed but has a heterogeneous effect, supporting households to either adopt or reject a strategy. Crop-based information positively determines uptake of yield-enhancing strategies while relevant information for livestock activities contributes to the uptake of livestock-based strategies. These findings suggest that mainstreaming agricultural innovations, building a household asset base, and facilitating access to agronomic and climatic information will enable dryland communities to better adapt to climate change.
Impact of on-farm Land Restoration Practices on the Time and Agency of Women in the Drylands of Eastern Kenya
This brief describes implementation work under the ICRAF led project “Restoration of degraded land for food security and poverty reduction in East Africa and the Sahel: taking successes in land restoration to scale”. The project is an IFAD-EC funded initiative developing innovative ways to scale land restoration activities through embedding research in development. It does this by collaborating with development programs to systematically test promising restoration options across a range of contexts. In Kenya, the project is working with over 2000 farmers across Kitui, Makueni and Machakos counties to implement on-farm comparisons of various land restoration options, including different tree planting practices and the use of planting basins.