Abstract
Pastoralism is globally recognized as the backbone of the economy in the vast arid and semi-arid rangelands. Despite its enormous economic contribution, the system is facing a myriad of challenges, among them, land use and land tenure changes, resulting in diminished grazing land. Accompanying such changes is the conversion of traditional grazing lands into other uses such as settlements, with urbanization being one of the key drivers of pastoral system dynamics. Understanding such dynamics in the face of compounding factors such as frequent droughts linked to climate change is key in guiding policy formulation and interventions aimed at achieving a sustainable pastoral production system. This study investigated factors determining migration and settlement of pastoralists in Nairobi City of Kenya. Data was collected through a snowball sampling approach using semi-structured household questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) in five Sub-counties of Nairobi City County. A total of 144 household interviews, 6 FGDs and 16 KIIs were conducted to elucidate drivers of urban pastoralism, opportunities and challenges encountered by pastoralists in the city. A binary logistic regression model was used to analyse the determinants of their migration. Results show that search for pasture and water resources, and alternative markets especially during droughts, are the main reasons for pastoralists’ migration to the city. In addition, educated herders were found to be more likely to migrate to the city as they pursue wage employment. Whereas these findings revealed that migration to the city exposes pastoralists to diverse livelihood opportunities, they are equally faced by a number of challenges - mainly road accidents involving livestock, frequent land displacements to pave way for development of real estates, and livestock poisoning from sewage and garbage wastes. There is a need for policy and regulatory interventions to recognize pastoralism alongside other forms of urban farming and addressing challenges facing sustainable pastoral production.
Highlights
Pastoralism is widely accepted as the most reliable economic activity and efficient use of the scattered and variable rangeland resources (Freier et al 2012; IGAD 2013; Koech 2014)
Results of the multi-collinearity test The variance inflation factor (VIF) for the predictor variables in the model ranged between 1.09 and 1.73, with a mean VIF of 1.28, which is greater than 1 and less than 5 (Table 2), implying that there was no multi-collinearity and the variables were suitable for use in the model
Socio-demographic characteristics of the sampled households The findings of this study show that 41% of the interviewed respondents were permanent emigrants in Nairobi City (Table 3)
Summary
Pastoralism is widely accepted as the most reliable economic activity and efficient use of the scattered and variable rangeland resources (Freier et al 2012; IGAD 2013; Koech 2014). It is an economic and cultural livelihood system that involves mobile livestock management in rangelands using the traditional knowledge, skills and Wafula et al Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice (2022) 12:2 is the mainstay of the livestock sector that provides over 75% of the nation’s livestock estimated at US$860 million (Krätli et al 2013; Nyariki and Amwata 2019). In the last three decades, there has been a rapid change in land tenure arrangements among the Maasai herders due to the break-down of group ranches, subdivision and conversion of communally-owned land to other land uses such as conservancies and large-scale agriculture, limiting access to grazing resources (Galaty 2013; German et al 2017; Said et al 2016)
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