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The drylands of Kenya that comprise of Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) make up about 80% of the total land area and are largely inhabited by agro and nomadic pastoralists. Despite the large area, their contribution to Gross Domestic Product is about 5%, mainly through livestock husbandry and dryland farming. These areas are characterized by among others; thermal stress, soil moisture deficiency, insecurity, competition over natural wherewithal and other low development indices. In addition, their physical infrastructure including roads, housing, health, education and telecommunication is wanting. The result is basically unimpressive development indicators for example poor social service provisioning. Despite the foregoing challenges, the productivity of drylands is far below its potential and resource exploitation especially by the local population is largely done from a pedestal of ignorance, leading to untold environmental degradation. One reason for the foregoing state of affairs is inappropriate planning and poor policy execution. Flowing from the foregoing, this study analyses the past dryland food policies and related blueprints, their achievements and pitfalls and finally argues for a paradigm shift in policy development and execution as part of the panacea for revitalizing dryland food security.
Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice
Applying the concept of resilience to pastoralist household data2017 •
This article explores the concept of resilience as outlined in a recent World Bank publication that applies the concept to rangeland areas in Africa. The paper does not attempt to speak to all of the dimensions of resilience and debates about the concept's applications to pastoral ecology and rangelands. Instead, we utilize a panel data set from northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia that has been analysed in other published studies to reconsider it from a resilience perspective. We show how different livelihood groups in the region are impacted by climate, disease, market, conflict, and land use shocks in a time characterized by a drought phase and a recovery phase. In many cases, there are livelihood-specific impacts of these shocks, and these help explain long-term herd dynamics and pastoralist poverty traps. Our analysis then turns to different ways of measuring resilience and finds that measurements of combined income and asset thresholds provide the most convincing outcomes. We further assess some broader opportunities and innovations that have the potential to enhance resilience in the drylands. Finally, different policy relevant steps that can be taken to enhance resilience are discussed in the context of the considerable heterogeneity in livelihood strategies which occurs in African rangelands.
Environmental Science & Policy
Valuing ecosystem services for conservation and development purposes: A case study from Kenya2013 •
The Geographical Journal
The dynamics of vulnerability: locating coping strategies in Kenya and Tanzania2005 •
Pastoralism is a culture, livelihoods system, extensive use of rangelands. It is the key production system practiced in the arid and semi-arid dryland areas. Recent estimates indicate that about 120 million pastoralists and agro-pastoralists life worldwide, of which 41.7% reside only in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Pastoralists live in areas often described as marginal, remote, conflict prone, food insecure and associated with high levels of vulnerability. Pastoral communities of Ethiopia occupy 61% of the total land mass and 97% of Ethiopian pastoralists found in low land areas of Afar, Somali, Oromiya, and SNNPR. In spite pastoral areas have significance role in national economy, yet very little consideration was given to pastoral development and policy makers often neglect them, focusing on the interests of agriculture and urban people. The constitution of Ethiopia gives pastoral communities the right to free land grazing, fair use of natural resources, have market access and receive fair price, and not displaced from their own lands. However, pastoralists have faced new problems in recent years, including competition for water and pasture; unrepresented in socioeconomic and political activities, ethnic based conflicts, poverty, and uneven drought and climate changes. The government of Ethiopia began large scale efforts to develop the pastoral areas and initiated different projects, but pastoral development policies and strategies seem to be state centrally-driven. In Ethiopia the current nature of pastoralism and pastoral communities' life style is changing. Therefore, government needs to develop policies and strategies which are based on local customs and practical knowledge.
The ongoing challenges of educating pastoralist children: Alternative Basic Education Programme, Karamoja (Uganda)
Staying Poor: Chronic …
Investing in poor people in less-favoured areas: Institutions, technologies and policies for poverty alleviation and sustainable resource use2003 •
LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing
Climate Change and the Dryland Resources of Nigeria.pdf2019 •
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
An Assessment of the Socio-Economic and Ecological Impacts of Environmental Changes on Rural Livelihood: A Study Across Addado, Buhodle and Northern Galkaayo of Central and Northern Somalia2014 •
Disasters
Changing household responses to drought in Tharaka, Kenya: vulnerability, persistence and challenge2008 •
2011 •
2012 •
2018 •
Environment, Development and Sustainability
The livelihood potential of non-wood forest products: The case of Mbooni Division in Makueni District, Kenya2009 •
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Chapter 3: Climate Change and Land: An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems2019 •
2009 •
Food Security
Structure and properties of urban household food demand in Nairobi, Kenya: implications for urban food security2010 •
Environmental Management
Adaptation as a Political Process: Adjusting to Drought and Conflict in Kenya’s Drylands2009 •
2005 •
Global Environmental Change-human and Policy Dimensions
Categorisation of typical vulnerability patterns in global drylands2011 •
2004 •
Ids Bulletin-institute of Development Studies
Case Study 5: Kenya Seed Fairs as a Drought Recovery Strategy in Kenya2005 •