The Prospect for Desertification in Kajiado District, Kenya

Abstract

In Kajaido District Kenya the carrying capacity may soon be exceeded due to rapid population growth and land use changes leading to desertification. The major population affected is that of the Massai subsistence herdes who are restricted by the continuing expansion cultivation and are excluded from using Amboseli National Park during the dry seasons. The government of Kenya needs a development strategy which will promote and manage local activities to secure long-term economic growth and protection of resources. The focus of the article is to illuminate the processes which contribute to desertification and examine alternative strategies which reduce the negative impact. Desertification is not just related to drought conditions but is the inability of the environment to sustain the demands made on it by socioeconomic systems. The threshold conditions may be precipitated by adverse climatic changes; drought exacerbates existing degradation. Other conditions are situations in which cultivation moves into less human areas or areas must have been used by herders. In Kajiado District there is a shortage of land as well as inequalities in distribution. The physical and socioeconomic background of Kajiado District is described; also presented are land use patterns between 1900-63 and since independence. The drought of 1960-61 forced the government to sponsor rangeland development which resulted in group ranches for the Massai. The problem was that during the dry season and droughts resources within the ranches were insufficient. Land speculation patterns just before independence meant that the population moved onto the slopes of Ngong Hills and Mt. Kilimanjaro. During the drought years 1972-76 there was little reserve available due to overgrazing and expanded cultivation. As a result agricultural activities were intensified by reducing the fallow period and expanding into rangeland. The Maasai followed their traditional strategy and increased their herds. The implications are that people are vulnerable to environmental conditions and that rangeland capacity would be exceeded in 1984. With moderate to optimistic adjustments capacity would be exceeded in the period 1994-2035. Resources need to be developed outside the subsistence sector in order to reduce the number of people depending on subsistence production. Kajiado holds promise for managed development based on locally available skills.