How do pastoralists cope with increasing pressure on land?

As human and animal populations increase, competition for land also increases. The effects of this pressure are both ecological and social. Soil degrades, farming systems change and the laws and customs which govern land rights are stretched to breaking point. Nowhere are these issues more pressing than the marginal pastoralist areas of southern Kenya.

Maasai pastoralists have a range of responses to increased pressure on land and to minimise risk and uncertainty in their food production. Research from the Department of Economics, University of Nairobi, Kenya, looks at three such responses: adoption of land cultivation, investment in land improvements and migration with livestock. The research examines the important determinants of how households choose strategies. Understanding these factors is important in preventing the overgrazing that results from increased pressure on land.

East African pastoralists have always moved their livestock in response to erratic rainfall conditions and to protect the environment. However, they are increasingly choosing cultivation to sustain their livelihoods under increased land scarcity. Under certain circumstances, they also invest in improvements to land, such as planting trees and adoption of techniques to control soil erosion. A major factor affecting this decision is the nature of existing land rights. The definition of land rights has a strong influence on the way that communities choose to cope with increasing land pressures.

The research shows:

• Educated pastoralists who own small amounts of land are most likely to adopt cultivation.
• Pastoralists who own land privately are more likely to cultivate than those who hold land as part of a common property resource.
• A lack of water discourages crop cultivation.
• An increase in the distance travelled to the source of water reduces the probability of crop cultivation.
• Private land ownership is an incentive for land improvements, especially compared to common property ownership. Available labour is also an important factor affecting land improvements.
• People who hold land under common property ownership and who are not well educated are more likely to migrate.
• Households that own lands privately are less likely to migrate, and are likely to practice more non-herding activities.
• Owning a large livestock herd makes a household more likely to migrate. Those with smaller herds are more likely to send livestock to search for grazing land with relatives or friends.

Given these results, it is important to design policy options for supporting all pastoralists. The research argues that richer and poorer pastoralists will not have the same access to any opportunities created by policy change.

Important policy recommendations include:

• Privatising common property resources will help in adoption of alternative livelihood strategies, but well-connected pastoralists are likely to benefit more from this at the expense of poorer pastoralists. The implementation of privatisation policies is also vulnerable to local political interference.
• Improving the level of education in the region would encourage farmers to adopt strategies to manage the impacts of increasing land pressure.
• There is a need to explore ways of increasing water availability, and understand how government can assist pastoralists to increase the productivity of available water.

Source(s):
‘Pastoralists Response to Acute Land Pressure under Changing Property Rights: some insights from Kajiado District, Kenya’ Environment and Development Economics 10:1, by Jane Kabubo-Mariara, 2005

Funded by: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

id21 Research Highlight: 21 July 2005

Further Information:
Jane Kabubo-Mariara
Department of Economics
University of Nairobi
PO Box 30197, 00100 Nairobi
Kenya

Tel: +254 (0) 20 318 262
Fax: +254 (0) 20 245 566
Contact the contributor: jkmariara@yahoo.com; jmariara@uonbi.ac.ke

Department of Economics, University of Nairobi, Kenya

Other related links:
'Differences in diversification for Maasai pastoralists'

'Management of rangeland resources in areas of climatic variability'

'Reducing conflict and improving resource management for Kenyan pastoralists'

'Land rights in Africa: protecting the interests of vulnerable groups'

Eldis guide to pastoralism

The Pastoral Development Network