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From Cattle to Corn: Attributes ofEmerging Farming Systems of FormerPastoral Nomads in East Pokot, KenyaClemens Greiner a , Miguel Alvarez b & Mathias Becker ba Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology , University ofCologne , Cologne , Germanyb Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, AgriculturalFaculty, University of Bonn , Bonn , GermanyPublished online: 18 Jul 2013.

To cite this article: Clemens Greiner , Miguel Alvarez & Mathias Becker (2013) From Cattle to Corn:Attributes of Emerging Farming Systems of Former Pastoral Nomads in East Pokot, Kenya, Society &Natural Resources: An International Journal, 26:12, 1478-1490, DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2013.791901

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From Cattle to Corn: Attributes of EmergingFarming Systems of Former Pastoral Nomads

in East Pokot, Kenya

CLEMENS GREINER

Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, University ofCologne, Cologne, Germany

MIGUEL ALVAREZ AND MATHIAS BECKER

Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, AgriculturalFaculty, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Crop cultivation under rain-fed conditions is a recent innovation among the formerlypastoral-nomadic Pokot in north-central Kenya. We have examined the socioecolo-gical dynamics of land-use change from an interdisciplinary perspective. Thepatterns of transition to agropastoralism are closely related to both the biogeophy-sical attributes of the area and the economic characteristics of the households. Whilethe use of advanced agronomic practices in the highlands is associated with annualmaize grain yields of >2Mg ha�1, unfavorable climatic and edaphic conditions, aswell as the limited agronomic knowledge of the newcomer farmers in the lowland andmid-hill zones, make field crop production there an opportunistic, spatially scat-tered, and rather erratic land-use strategy. The accelerated transition to crop culti-vation and the spatiotemporal differences in sedentarization between zonescontribute to a fragmentation and shortage of land, which results in growing inter-household inequalities and increasing conflicts within Pokot society.

Keywords East Africa, land tenure, land-use change, livelihoods, pastoralism,soil fertility, vegetation analysis, weeds

Nomadic pastoralism has been crucial in shaping the savannah environments ofEastern Africa (Little 1996). Today these rangelands are characterized by rapidprocesses of fragmentation and contraction, and nomadic pastoralism, once thedominant mode of land use, is retreating in many areas. One of the key drivers ofthese dynamics is the extension of croplands into former grazing areas (Reid et al.2008). In the last decades, a growing number of formerly nomadic pastoralistsocieties throughout East Africa have begun to sedentarize and to cultivate field

Received 15 February 2012; accepted 9 November 2012.Many thanks go to Dominika Schneider, Christian Dold, and Charles Lorot for their par-

ticipation in the field survey and soil and vegetation sampling in 2011, and to three anonymousreferees whose comments helped a lot to improve this article.

Address correspondence to Clemens Greiner, Department of Cultural and SocialAnthropology, University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, D-50923 Cologne, Germany.E-mail: clemens.greiner@uni-koeln.de

Society and Natural Resources, 26:1478–1490Copyright # 2013 Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 0894-1920 print=1521-0723 onlineDOI: 10.1080/08941920.2013.791901

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crops (Heald 1999; Little 1992; McCabe et al. 2010; Smith 2005). While in the pastthe boundary between cultivation and herding has waxed and waned in many pas-toralist societies (Anderson 1988; Mace 1993), we see the current changes as partof a more profound process of restructuring in these societies, linked with rangelandfragmentation, socioeconomic stratification, and a change in land tenure towardprivatization (Lesorogol 2008; Galvin 2009).

The case study of the Pokot in Kenya’s Baringo area effectively illustrates thedynamics just outlined. To explore them from an interdisciplinary perspective, wehave employed a social–ecological systems approach (Folke et al. 2005), assumingthat social and ecological systems are interdependent and interact through variousfeedback processes, whereby ‘‘interdependent relationships among humans aremediated through interactions with biophysical and non-human biological units’’(Anderies et al. 2004, 3). The data presented in this article generate preliminaryinsights into these dynamics. They show how the biogeophysical environment influ-ences the temporal patterns of transition to crop cultivation, and portray howhuman engagements with the environment have led to a differentiation of tenuresystems and livelihoods, and, in turn, opened up new lines of conflict.

Research Area

East Pokot District is located in Kenya’s central Rift Valley Province. It has apopulation of 133,189 and an average density of 29 persons km�2 (KNBS 2010).The study area covers a transect within the district stretching about 50 km along agravel road connecting Lake Baringo with the edge of the Laikipia plateau. Thetransect cuts across three landscape forms referred to hereafter as lowlands,mid-hills, and highlands. A few larger permanent settlements serve as administrativecenters and market places. Most households, however, are dispersed throughout therural hinterlands.

Climate

Temperatures decrease with altitude, from about 24�C in the lowlands to about 18�Cin the highlands. Seasonal variations in air moisture and precipitation are linked tothe alternation of the South East Passat from the Indian Ocean and the westerlywinds from the Congo basin, with precipitation maxima in March and September.While the bioclimatic classification of all sites corresponds to the Koppen’stropical-savannah type ‘‘Aw,’’ the lengths of growing periods in these agroecologicalzones vary according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO 2011) from150 days in the highland site to 110–120 days in the lowland and mid-hill zones(see Table 1, presented later).

Geology and Soils

The main parental material in the study area is of volcanic origin, including basaltand pyroclastic rocks (Touber 1989). Depending on the land form and the hydrolo-gical regime, soil types include shallow rocky Leptosols, deep well-drained Nitosols,and clay Vertisols. A few Gleysols are encountered in valley bottoms in the highlands(FAO 2007).

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Vegetation

The vegetation is a mosaic of several formations and plant communities, with ‘‘savan-nahs’’ being the dominant element in the landscape. These savannah-type vegetationformations vary according to landscape form. The lowlands within or adjacent to theRift Valley bottom are characterized by sparse woods and Acacia thickets. In themid-hill area, this vegetation is increasingly dominated by succulent plants. On moistwest-facing slopes, dense stands of Acacia mellifera occur (Muasya et al. 1994).

People

The district is populated almost exclusively by members of the Pokot community,who expanded into the area during the 19th century. Linguistically, the Pokot arerelated to Western Kenyan agropastoralists, but culturally they are closer to theirpastoralist neighbors, such as the Karimojong and the Turkana (Bollig 2006). Pastland use patterns were characterized by cattle-centered nomadic pastoralism, which

Table 1. Geographical location and site characteristics of the three studyenvironments

Position Lowland Mid-hills Highland

Location(market town)

Loruk Tangulbei Churo

Landscape form Flat RiftValley bottom

land

Undulating plateaus Hillsides, valleybottoms

Geo coordinates 36.03� E, 0.77�

N36.20� N, 0.78� N 36.42� E, 0.77� N

Altitude (masl)a 900–1000 1100–1200 1700–1800Mean temperture (�C) 23.5 22.2 17.8Rainfall (mm)b 675 641 632LGP (days)c 120 110 150(Semi)Naturalvegetation

Sparse Acaciasavanna,understorygrasses

Succulents or sparseA. abyssinica, A. kirkii,A. mellifera savannah

Dense Dodonaeashrubland orA. 7melliferasavannah

Dominant land use Pastoralism Pastoralism Crop farmingPopulationdensity (km�2)d

20 24 65

Share of householdse

cultivating in 2010=having a shamba(field)

29%=69% 58%=84% 88%=99%

aDigital elevation model: Jarvis et al. (2008).bWorldClim database; http://www.worldclim.org (accessed 21 March 2012).cLGP: length of growing period: number of days where precipitation >1=2 potential evapo-

transpiration þ the number of days to evaporate 100mm of soil water (FAO 2011).dPopulation km-2, based on National Census 2009 (KNBS 2010).eBased on household survey 2011 (n¼ 271).

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in recent decades has increasingly shifted toward sedentary and market-orientedgoat-keeping (Osterle 2008). Unlike the neighboring groups such as Turkana andMaasai, where access to land is ruled by kinship and clan structures, the Pokot defineaccess to land along tribal lines. As a general rule, all Pokot were allowed to grazetheir livestock anywhere within Pokot land (Bollig and Osterle 2008), and there wereno clear cut rules of territorial belonging. In the past decades, however, people havestarted settling in the highlands and other areas suitable for rain-fed cultivation, andalthough land tenure is communal and officially there are no formal titles, this landis increasingly being de facto privatized, fenced, and even traded.

Sampling Design and Methods

Farm Survey

The main body of data on which this contribution is based was generated in a jointfield campaign in June 2011. During this campaign 18 fields were selected along theresearch transect as sites for the collection of biogeophysical and socioeconomic data(Figure 1). Based on satellite pictures from the area, the distribution patterns of

Figure 1. Location of sampling plots along a climatic and altitude gradient. Digital elevationmodel was obtained from the CGIAR-CSI 90m database (Jarvis et al. 2008). Data on precipi-tation and temperature were obtained from the WorldClim database (Hijmans et al. 2005).

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farmlands within the savanna environment were assessed.1 Combined with climatedata and soil maps (FAO 2007; 2011), environments representing the main biophy-sical and land use features of East Pokot were identified. The farms considered forthe present survey were then selected to represent the prevailing diversity of land useattributes and climatic and edaphic conditions. After the joint campaign, 30additional fields were visited in the vicinity of these plots solely in order to collectfarmers’ socioeconomic data, thus providing a total of 48 data sets for socioeco-nomic data analysis (see Table 3, presented later). These comprise data about thefarmers’ perception of ecological conditions, their farming techniques, and theiryields, along with basic socioeconomic data. The sizes of the cultivation plots weredetermined by global positioning system (GPS)-based measurements.

Vegetation and Soil Characterization

Soil and vegetation data were collected in and around the 18 representative fieldsincluded in the ‘‘farm survey.’’ Soils were visually assessed and classified for soiltype, rooting depth, surface structure, and color, following the guidelines for landand soil evaluation (FAO 1976) and the principles of the soil fertility capabilityclassification (Buol et al. 1975). The soils were rated on a scale from 1 (unsuited)to 10 (highly suited). Topsoil (0–20 cm) was collected as composites of eight samplesin each crop field and analyzed in the laboratory. Soils were extracted using themodified Olsen method and analyzed for available P (Eppendorf ECOM 6122 spec-trophotometer) and K (Eppendorf Elex 6361 flame photometer). Total C and Nwere analyzed using a EuroEA 3000 CHNS-O elemental analyzer. Maize crops ofages ranging from 1 to 2 months were visually assessed for leaf rolling (water deficit)and symptoms of nutrient deficiency. Dominant species of weeds associated withfield crops were determined. Vegetation types in the areas surrounding the field plotswere assessed to determine dominant species and plant formations according toEllenberg and Mueller-Dombois (1966).

Socioeconomic Data

The socioeconomic part of the farm survey was complemented by data from long-termethnographic fieldwork in East Pokot (October 2010 to September 2011), focusing onland use change, the expansion of sedentary crop cultivation, social–ecological dynam-ics, and land-based conflicts. Besides ethnographic observations and qualitativeinterviews, which were undertaken with the help of a local interpreter and fieldworkassistant, data were also gathered with a questionnaire-based household survey(n¼ 271), which was based on a two-step geographical cluster sampling approach.Results of this survey, which included questions on household composition, livelihoods,farming, herd size, and land-use patterns, were only partially integrated into this article.

Results and Discussion

The study area was divided into three zones, each with distinct geographical andlandscape attributes and each with differing social and economic characteristicsidentifiable in its land users. The lowland zone comprised the Rift Valley bottomaround the commercial centre of Loruk, the mid-hill zone was the region surround-ing the commercial centre of Tangulbei, and the highland zone the land around the

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village of Churo (Figure 1). The patterns of transition from pastoralism toagro-pastoralism varied by zone and were related to the biogeophysical attributesof the area.

Biophysical Attributes

Geography and ClimateThe geographical locations of the study sites are presented in Figure 1. While thelandscape in the Rift Valley is largely flat, it becomes hillier in the mid-hill zone, withundulating plateaus interspersed with steep rocky escarpments. The highlandsaround Churo present a transitional zone between the steep Rift Valley escarpmentand the Laikipia high plateau, with long hillsides and large valleys. With increasingaltitude, both mean temperatures and total precipitation tend to decline. However,while most of Churo’s annual precipitation of 630mm is concentrated in the periodbetween March and June (monomodal), the slightly higher levels of precipitation inthe Rift Valley and the mid-hill zone (641–675mm) occur between April–May andSeptember–October (bimodal), thus de facto shortening the length of growing periodfor rain-fed crops (FAO 2011). Further physical attributes, vegetation types, andcurrent land uses are presented in Table 1.

VegetationThe natural vegetation formations differed according to position along the gradient.The zone within or adjacent to the Rift Valley bottom revealed sparse woods andthickets of different Acacia species (A. abyssinica, A. kirkii, A. reficiens, A. seyal,A. tortilis), accompanied by an understory of annual grasses, especially Eragrostisspp. and Aristida spp. In the mid-hill zone, succulent plants (Sansevieria robusta,Kleinia longiflora, Cissus rotundifolia, C. cactiformis) predominated in shallow rockysoils, while west-facing slopes retained more moisture and promoted the establish-ment of dense Acacia mellifera stands. In the highland zone, Commiphora africana,Croton dichogamus, Acalypha fruticosa, and Grewia spp. were increasingly associatedwith the Acacia savannah. In depressions with groundwater access or temporarystream flows, riverine woodlands were dominated by fever tree (Acacia xanthoph-loea), forming relatively dense vegetation covers. Only in the highland zone, theinvasive shrub Dodonaea angustifolia var. viscosa (Harrington and Gadek 2009)occupied gaps in the woodland, becoming dominant in areas where bushfires hadlargely eliminated the woody savannah grassland vegetation.

In all these vegetation formations, degradation processes due to anthropogenicinterventions were apparent. The lower canopy of the acacia vegetation was heavilybrowsed by camels and small ruminants. Close to the road and around settlements,trees had been cut for the production of charcoal, beehives, and fencing materials.Similar degradation trends of savannah vegetation close to settlements were reportedin Namibia (Strohbach 2000). In areas where temporary or permanent crop fieldshad been established, most of the natural vegetation had been cleared. In areaswhere crops had been cultivated in the past and soils had been degraded, the reestab-lished savannah vegetation was sparse and very species-poor. Similar relationshipsbetween soil and vegetation degradation in dry savannah environments have beenreported in both Africa (Ellis and Calvin 1994) and Latin America (Veldman andPutz 2011).

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SoilsThe soil attributes were determined within maize fields, and thus represent only thecrop land characteristics (Table 2). In the Rift Valley lowland, the dominant soiltypes were shallow Acrisols and moist but hardened and surface-crusted Plintosols.The mid-hill zone was dominated by gravelly Leptosols on the plateaus, with a fewdeep Nitisols at the base of the rocky escarpments. While the highland area isdominated by Leptosols and Nitisols (FAO 2007), the cultivated areas are mainlyfound on dark clay Vertisols, or on Gleysols in the valley bottoms. This gradientin soil types between the Rift Valley and the highland zone is reflected in the soilparameters. While the pale brown sandy loam soils of the Rift Valley appear rela-tively favorable for cultivation (0.14% total N and 1.1% C), their quality rating islow because of their shallowness, compaction, and surface crusting. The red-coloredsandy clay soils of the mid-hill area are very shallow, structurally weak and chemi-cally poor (0.85%C, 0.08%N), and largely unsuited for rainfed cropping. The gener-ally deep, dark brown clay soils in the highlands, on the other hand, appear bettersuited for crop production, despite a low available P content (<6mg kg�1). A similardiversity in soil suitability was observed in the drylands of eight African countries(Watson and Diaz-Chavez 2011).

Social and Economic Attributes

Pokot society is exposed to high levels of insecurity. Violent conflicts with neighbor-ing pastoral societies often result in livestock losses due to raiding (Bollig and Osterle2007; McCabe 2004). Increased climatic variability in the area leads to more frequentand unpredictable episodes of severe droughts and torrential rains (IPCC 2007). Thede facto privatization of land for crop cultivation and the emergence of wildlife

Table 2. Soil types and selected physical-chemical soil characteristics of the threestudy environments

Position Lowland Mid-hills Highland

Soil type (FAO) Acrisol=Plintosol Leptosol=Nitisol Vertisol=GleysolTexture Sandy loam Sandy clay Loamy clayProfile depth (cm) 18–25 12–25 >30Stucturea Medium Poor GoodColor Pale brown Red BrownpH (H2O) 7.1� 0.1d 7.0� 0.2 6.2� 0.2Total carbon (%) 1.08� 0.04 0.85� 0.06 1.77� 0.12Total nitrogen (%) 0.14� 0.01 0.08� 0.01 0.18� 0.01C=N-ratio 8.0� 0.2 10.4� 0.3 9.9� 0.4Available P (mg kg�1)b 4.92� 5.79 6.25� 1.50 5.67� 1.31Soil quality ratingc 5.5 4.5 8.5

aPoor: no recognizable aggregates, heavy surface crusting; medium: some aggregates andsurface crusting; good: many large and stable aggregates, no crusting.

bPhosphorus extraction by sodium bicarbonate.cSoil rating based on rapid field assessment on scale from 1 (poor) to 10 (very good) based

on the fertility capability classification (Buol et al. 1975).dStandard error of the mean (n¼ 5–8).

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conservation areas are leading to increasing levels of rangeland fragmentation(Greiner 2012). Together with a growing insecurity along all district borders, thishas severely limited herd mobility (Greiner 2013). High rates of population growthand environmental degradation are further drivers of the trends toward sedentariza-tion and farming. Increasing primary school enrollment forces households to settledown more permanently, and children, who traditionally used to guard the herds,are no longer available for this task. Both factors prevent extensive forms of live-stock keeping and favor alternative forms of livelihood.

While in the lowlands the vast majority of the Pokot still maintain a pastoralistlifestyle and <30% of the households produced field crops in 2010, in the mid-hillzone the proportion of the households involved in cultivation increases to nearly60%, despite unfavorable environmental conditions. Nevertheless, pastoralism is stillthe dominant way of life in this area. In the highlands, however, the majority of thehouseholds are sedentary, with 88% having engaged in farming in 2010 (Table 1).2

Consequently, the landscape is characterized by crop fields surrounded by fences.Because of the lack of grazing ground, cattle and small ruminants are forced outto the adjacent areas. Similar patterns of spatial displacement of pastoral land underconditions of land shortages have been reported throughout much of Sahelian andEastern Africa (Niamir-Fuller 1998; Southgate and Hulme 2000).

Land-Use and Crop Attributes

Cultivation HistoryInitially, the sedentarization process was driven by poverty and risk considerations.The first small maize plots were established in the highlands in the 1970s, mostly byimpoverished members of the community who had lost their livestock assets. Thesevere droughts of the 1980s, nongovernmental organization (NGO) interventions,and the economic benefits arising from crop production have subsequently attractedthe economic elite and educated members of the community to the highland area.Today, this is the most densely settled area in East Pokot and sustains about threetimes more people than the lowlands and the mid-hills (KNBS 2010; see alsoTable 1). People started settling primarily on sites with favorable soil and moistureconditions, particularly in small depressions with deep Vertisols, valley bottom landswith Gleysols, and plots benefiting from water run-on from adjacent escarpmentslopes. In 2011, most of the suitable land in the highland areas around Churo wasunder yearly cultivation. Newcomers and emerging farmers only get access to landby either purchase or inheritance. Most farmers have cultivated annually for twodecades or longer (see Table 3). While crop production contributes substantiallyto livelihood and wealth, competition for the scarce land is increasingly leading toconflicts between members of the community. Furthermore, it contributes to thedecline of customary land management. Pastures that used to be reserved fordry-season cattle grazing are today under cultivation.

The historic development of land occupancy and crop cultivation is reflected inthe data provided in Table 3. People in the mid-hills and the lowlands began cultivat-ing in the 1990s and the 2000s, respectively. Both economically marginal householdsand members of the local business elite have adopted cultivation: the former to sur-vive, the latter to explore additional means of income generation. However, crop cul-tivation is spatially scattered and of low intensity in these areas, and most of these

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newcomer farmers do not cultivate every year. While land is still available in manyareas and the size of cultivated plots tends to be larger than in the highlands, the firstsigns of land disputes are evident around the better suited areas, particularly thosecloser to villages.

Table 3. Attributes of producers, production systems, and the 2011 crop character-istics in the three study environments

Position Lowland Mid-hills Highland

Producer attributesSample size (number offarmers)

8 13 27

Cultivation since (years) 10 (4–27) 15 (1–35) 23 (2–51)Yearly cultivation 12% 38% 63%Land acquisition byclearing virgin land

63% 62% 37%

Income from cropfarming (4)

103� 94 442� 359 360� 161

Return per ha (4) 335 427 503Production objective Subsistence

(75%)Subsistence

(54%)Market(93%)

Production system attributesMaize field size (ha) 0.3 0.9 0.6Seeding date April=May April MarchCultivar F2 generation of

hybrid maizeF2 generation ofhybrid maize

Hybrid maize

Tillage Manual Manual Mainlytractor

Fertilizer use None None Animalmanure, fewmineral N

Weed control Manual Manual Mechanical,herbicides

Production constraintsa

Homogeneity of stand Moderate Low HighDrought (leaf rolling) Medium High NoneNitrogen deficiency Slight Medium NonePhosphorous deficiency Slight Medium LowWeed infestation High Moderate Low–highDominant weeds Cassia, Sola-

num, Cyperus,Portulaca

Boerhavia, CassiaCynodon, Acanthos-

permum

Bidens,CynodonTagetes,Datura,

Pests and diseases None None NoneMaize yield (Mg ha�1) 1.4b (1.5)c 1.0 (1.7) 2.1 (2.0)

aConstraints observed in the standing maize crops during the early wet season of 2011.bGrain yield determined from the farm survey 2011 (n¼ 18).cGrain yield determined from the extended survey 2010 (n¼ 48).

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Producers and Production SystemsMore than 60% of the crop land users in the lowlands and mid-hill zones startedcultivation after clearing natural vegetation from communal land. This is no longerpossible in the highlands, where most suitable land is under cultivation by now. Theincome from farming is low in the Rift Valley (�100 4 with a return rate per hectareof 335 4), highly variable in the mid-hill zone (80–600 4 with a return rate perhectare of 427 4), and high and constant in the highlands (360 4 with a return rateper hectare of >500 4). While the greater proportion of the production in the low-lands and mid-hill zones is destined for subsistence uses, most households in thehighlands usually sell parts of their harvest (Table 3). These highly divergent levelsof economic benefit from crop farming are related to differences in the biophysicalenvironment, as has been reported in other dryland areas of Sub-Saharan Africa(Tiffen 2006). The use of inferior seeds by farmers in the lowlands and mid-hill zones,for example, is largely related to the risk-averse behavior of poorer households,whose members try to keep production costs low vis-a-vis high climate insecurity.In addition, the economics of crop farming appear to be related to the agronomictechnical proficiency level of the farmers and are reflected in both the croppingsystem employed and the attributes of the resulting maize crop.

Cropping Systems and Crop Attributes

The maize plots of the farmers in the lowland and mid-hill zones were generallypoorly managed, and grain yields were low and highly variable (Table 3). Most farm-ers used noncertified seeds or the F2 generation of previous years’ hybrid seedharvests, largely explaining the observed heterogeneity of the crop stands. Even dis-continuous use of land for only a relatively short time has reportedly been sufficientto keep the weed pressure in check (Dong et al. 2011) and may explain the presenceof largely easy-to-control volunteer species such as Senna obtusifolia, Portulacaoleracea, Mollugo nudicaulis, and Boerhavia diffusa. On the other hand, the absenceof fertilizer use combined with the very poor soils is related to the widely observedleaf rolling (proxy for drought stress) and widespread N and P deficiency symptoms.Cross-correlations indicate that farm income and maize yield were related to bothsoil fertility attributes (r¼ .49�) and farmers’ levels of technical proficiency(r¼ .31�). Unfavorable climatic and edaphic conditions and farmers’ limited experi-ence and knowledge of agronomic practices are thus mainly to blame for the verylow crop yields. Consequently, the contribution of cropping to livelihood is generallylow and variable, particularly in the mid-hill zone.

Farmers in the highland zone have >20 years of experience in maize farming andgenerally know about the benefits of using certified seeds and the application of fer-tilizer. Knowledge of agronomic management, combined with the favorable edaphicconditions and the widespread use of tractors for tillage operations, explains theobserved even crop stand establishment, the absence of deficiency symptoms, andthe relatively high maize grain yields of >2Mg ha�1. On the other hand, extendedperiods of continuous monocropping may be associated with the observed domi-nance of Cynodon dactylon, Bidens pilosa, and Datura stramonium, which were classi-fied by farmers as serious problem weeds (see Table 3).

Given the environmental conditions and generally poor crop performance,particularly in the lowland and mid-hill areas, the decision to grow maize appearssurprising. In similar environmental settings in other dry savannah environments,

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sorghum, millet, and cowpea are the prime crop choices (Vierich and Stoop 1990).The distribution of maize by food aid programs during the drought years of the1980s is seen to be among the main drivers in the shift of the dietary preferenceand the consequent ecologically inappropriate choice of maize as a field crop.

Perspectives

Our results suggest that biogeophysical conditions have profound impacts on thepatterns of transition toward agriculture in East Pokot. Environmentally favorablehighland areas were appropriated much earlier for crop cultivation, whereas in themarginal lowland and mid-hill zones, unfavorable climatic and edaphic conditionsmake field crop production an opportunistic and rather erratic land use strategy(for similar observations in West Pokot see Dietz 1987). The fundamental changesin land-use practices thus differ according to the biogeophysical environments inwhich they occur. This has led to processes of socioeconomic differentiation andthe opening up of new lines of conflict, as tenure systems and livelihoods are increas-ingly transformed by new practices of crop cultivation.

Due to a lack of economic alternatives, we assume that the shift from pastoral-ism to crop cultivation will continue or even accelerate in the coming years.However, climate change is likely to differentially affect land use, economic benefits,and food security benefits from farming in each of the study zones. While model pre-dictions indicate a trend toward higher total precipitation in the area (IPCC 2007),the observed increased variability in rainfall distribution patterns may de factoreduce the effective length of growing period and thus increase the uncertainty inthe outcome of maize cultivation, particularly in the lowland and mid-hill zones.In addition, emerging land shortages and changing tenure systems are seen to aggra-vate differences in livelihood levels both between and within production zones, thusincreasing the potential for internal conflict within Pokot society.

Future research, based on larger sample sizes, must address the following social–ecological coupling processes:

1. How do emerging small-scale patterns of land-use practices (grazing, crop culti-vation and wildlife conservation) impact on the ecosystem?

2. How will higher, but temporally and spatially more erratic, patterns of precipi-tation impact on land use and crop production?

3. What sociocultural and political institutions evolve as a response to thesechanges?

These aspects are likely to be key determinants of future trends in food security,environmental safety, and rural livelihood for East Pokot, and possibly for otheragropastoral communities of Africa.

Notes

1. RapidEye imagery was kindly provided by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).2. If households that claim to have a shamba (Kishwahili word for field, widely used among

Pokot) are considered, these figures are considerably higher, particularly in the lowland andmid-hill zones, which is a further indicator of the more sporadic character of cropcultivation in these areas (see Table 1).

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