Evaluation of the Factors Associated with Shift from Pastoral to Agro-pastoral Farming Systems in Trans-Mara West District of Narok County-Kenya

摘要

The Kenyan Government in partnership with the private sector has set up co-operative societies for marketing livestock and livestock products in Narok County. These co-operatives are supposed to trigger extensive expansion in livestock production. Despite perceived steady incomes, high turnover and ready market for livestock, the pastoral Maasai community is shifting from pastoralism to agro-pastoralism. This community is strongly traditional with much cultural and economic attachment to livestock. The shift brings to question the underlying drives which are not well understood. The drives are diverse, but little is known about their contribution to the engaged shift. The objective of this study was to determine the factors associated with the shift. Stratified proportionate random sampling procedure was used to get the appropriate sample. Data were collected from a sample of 130 households through interview schedule. Heckman two-step model was used to determine the factors associated with the shift. The findings indicated that household decision to shift was enhanced by more frequent group meetings and farmer trainings, declining land sizes, longer distance to watering points, shorter distance to market and more income from off-farm sources of incomes. The agro-pastorals choice to allocate higher proportion of land for crop production compared to livestock production was enhanced by more distance to watering points, low off-farm incomes, private land ownership, larger family, male dominance, more extension services, shorter distance to the market, less years of crop farming and little interaction with the neighbors. Whereas some households shifted out of necessity, others shifted by choice.