Agricultural intensification and the decline of pastoralism: A case study from Kenya

Using a case study, this article takes up the issue of the decline of pasto ralism in Kenya's arable farming zones. It argues that this process should not be taken as selfevident, with a decline in stockholding seen as consequ ent simply upon the relative rewards of agriculture, population increase an d environmental depletion. On the contrary, such a view ignores the fact th at cattle were the first sector of the traditional agro-pastoralist societi es of Kenya to become commercialised and, in the process, criminalised. His torically, cattle-raiding heroes soon became feared stock thieves, and it i s this process which is essential to understanding the eventual decline of the: pastoral sector and also to emerging patterns of inequality. The argum ent is based upon a longitudinal study of Kuria District in south-west Keny a, with survey data collected from the same homesteads in 1985 and 1995. Bo th surveys were designed to assess the effects of tobacco growing on emergi ng patterns of socio-economic stratification. Such a methodology is rare an d challenges the interpretations that might be reached solely on the basis of cross-sectional survey data. Despite increasing differentiation of incom es over the ten-year period, there has been no straightforward consolidatio n of relative wealth and poverty. Rather, there are indications of signific ant equalising tendencies at work in the local economy. Over the ten years there had been a 50 per cent decrease in cattle ownership. Understanding th e dynamics of this situation takes the argument in other directions and tow ards understanding the effects of commodification on the military wing of t he pastoral economy. Agricultural intensification in Kuria has been accompa nied by an upsurge in cattle raiding and it is this factor more than any ot her which has led to the decline of stock, as people divest themselves of c attle to forestall the depredations of raiders. At the same time, attitudes to the raiders themselves have hardened and evidence suggests that it is r aiding families-rather than, say, the poor as such-who find it expedient to migrate and in the process sell their land, allowing some consolidation of land holdings by other members of the community.