Towards integrated approaches for the sustainable management of natural resources in the drylands: the case of Eastern Kajiado and Southern Makueni districts, Kenya

Abstract

The study was conducted between December 2001 to March 2004 at village level in the semi-arid eastern Kajiado and southern Makueni Districts, in South Central Kenya to assess sustainability of the existing management on natural resource components (with emphasis on plants, soil and water) both from the perspectives of farming and pastoral communities. The study was motivated by the failure of finding solutions to pressing problems such as economic stagnation, poverty and land degradation in the drylands of Kenya even after over four decades of research and development with so many projects/institutions concerned. Consequently, the objectives of the research were to characterize the resource components and understand the impact of the existing management practices on the resources. Based on these experiences, sustainable and integrated conceptual models were then to be put forward on their management. Triangulation technique consisting of participatory field characterization, archival data, experiences and indigenous technical knowledge (obtained through interviews, meetings, household questionnaire and tasks to local community resource persons) were used to collect data. More information were also obtained by analyzing soil and water samples in scientific laboratories. The data were then critically analyzed and means summarized using Excel and SPSS packages. The facts from each village were conceptualised using ARCVIEW and ARCINFO in order to obtain integrated ecological and farm management units. Soil resources in all the four study villages were found to be eroded accompanied by low fertility in form of limited organic carbon, total nitrogen, phosphorus, cation exchange capacity and base saturation except in few landscapes and farms with soil conservation structures or where animal manure were added. Similarly crop production was relatively low, pastures were overgrazed, bush encroachments common and high value trees and shrubs over exploited for various uses. The underlying causative factors were identified as population pressure, poverty, unreliable rainfall, over cultivation, bare soil surfaces, high livestock numbers, pests and diseases, destruction by wild animals and limited technical and financial support. Other factors include inappropriate, conflicting and ad hoc policies, lack of markets and poor marketing systems and transport related constraints. Furthermore, water resources were inadequate and grossly polluted and contaminated (bacteriologically, physically and chemically) as a result of siltation, inadequate protection from human and livestock and the use of contaminated containers, and destruction of catchments in the surrounding farms and woodlands as mentioned above. The way forward was seen as creation/strengthening of market catchments along Nairobi- Mombasa road, merger of research and extension systems into one integrated natural resource sector, empowering of the local community technically and financially, diversification of agricultural production and income generation activities, availability of water for irrigation, livestock and domestic use and the conservation of plants, soil and water resources based on the suitability of the different ecological and farm management units within the villages.