The Economic Revolution on Kenya's Rangelands
In my recent seminar at ILRI, Nairobi, March 2007, I looked at the rapid transformation from traditional nomadic pastoralism to a more sedentary, agro-pastoralism with settled cultivation and livestock embedded within the emerging agro-pastoral matrix.
Specifically we see a significant increase in the areas under cultivation, the intensification of livestock production, the near total eradication of wildlife and the rapid evolution of Property Rights from large parcels of land under Group or Communal ownership to small parcels of land under Private ownership.
Spatially and temporally this process of transformation is cascading down the rainfall gradient, progressing faster and more completely in areas of higher agricultural potential compared with areas of lower agricultural potential. It can, however, "jump" down the rainfall gradient where agricultural potential is high - for example along rivers or in swamp areas as in the Loitokitok basin.
The economic drivers for this process of transformation are macro- (national) and micro- (local) economic changes; population growth, especially in urban areas; and marked differentials in the returns to agricultural, livestock and wildlife production.
Great stuff - though I say it myself! Download
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