Rangeland Pasture Management Strategies during Drought among Pastoralists in Kajiado County, Kenya
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Date
2023-09
Authors
Mikula, Rose Achieng
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Drought is one of the most harmful climate-caused perils influencing lives of many people in the world every year. Pastoral communities have for a long time developed local mechanisms for managing their pasture and water resources to cope with recurrent droughts. Unfortunately, the communities in Kenya continue to suffer from losses caused by the effects of severe recurrent droughts. The purpose of this study was to assess the rangeland pasture management strategies used during drought among pastoralists in Kajiado County, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to: (i) determine the effects of drought on pastoral production systems (ii) evaluate the pasture management strategies of pastoralists during drought and (iii) establish the pastoralists’ livestock management mechanisms during drought. The study employed a cross-sectional research design to gather primary data from 385 households sampled from five wards namely Kaputie North (78), Kitengela (80), Oloosirkon/Sholinke (77), Kenyawa Poka (75) and Imaroro (75). A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data. Prior to semi-structured questionnaire development, pre-testing and administration, one focused group discussion per ward was conducted to get a preview of productions systems and other overarching issues in the study area. The data was processed, tabulated, and analyzed using SPSS to generate descriptive statistics, Chi-Square and linear regression coefficients. In the study area, 52% of households had herd sizes ranging between 12 – 50 cattle and 12% with above 100 heads. Ownership of 0 - 11 heads of cattle were the least in the region with about 2% of the households. Drought led to low pasture production (22%) and increased incidences of pests’ infestations and disease incidences (18%). Scarcity of water sources was exacerbated by drought where 16% travelled for longer distances to fetch water even for domestic use and 14% of the households felt the pinch due to increased food prices. Pastoralists had adopted numerous pasture management strategies to cope with the effects of drought. At household level, rotational grazing within the community land accounted for 9.9% and herd splitting for 21.8%. In addition, migration of livestock during droughts was practiced by 68.3% of the pastoralists. Chi-square analysis indicated that there was no significant difference (P = 0.166) between understanding pasture management practices and establishment of feed reserves. Linear regression analysis of some socio-economic factors (number of animals owned, land ownership, and understanding pasture management) were significant factors (P < 0.05) in enhancing pastoralists’ uptake of pasture management strategies. In addition, the socio-economic factors explained 61.1% of the variation in pastoralists’ uptake of pasture management strategies. Matching livestock numbers with pasture resources was the most common pasture management strategy used by 81% of the pastoralists. They regarded it as a very effective destocking/restocking strategy in coping with the effects of drought. The second common strategy was breeding their own replacement stock (79%) especially after drought, as they were not likely to have adequate capital to purchase breeding females. The findings indicated that many of the pastoralists did not conserve feed and depended heavily on natural grasslands. In addition, the study found that drought exposes the pastoralists’ socio-economic vices such as conflicts over grazing and water resources. This is further manifested through cattle rustling and at times loss of human life. This could be attributed to the fact that livestock is the mainstay of the pastoralist communities.
Description
A Research Thesis Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Dryland Agriculture and Enterprise Development in the School Of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences of Kenyatta University, September 2023.
Keywords
Rangeland Pasture Management Strategies during Drought among Pastoralists in Kajiado County, Kenya