Explaining a Miracle: Intensification and the Transition Towards Sustainable Small-scale Agriculture in Dryland Machakos and Kitui Districts, Kenya

Zaal, Fred; Oostendorp, R.A.B.

doi:10.1016/s0305-750x(02)00030-x

Cited by 49 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…These areas reduce the overall runoff depth for the whole catchment (Conway, 1999). At the scale of small catchments in Ethiopia, soil and water conservation (SWC) activities are currently the most widespread form of agricultural intensification (sensu Adégbidi et al, 2004;Turton and Bottrall, 1997;Zaal and Oostendorp, 2002), particularly in the uplands. Initially, mainly physical structures were introduced (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of soil and water conservation measures on catchment hydrological response—a case in north Ethiopia

Nyssen

Clymans

Descheemaeker

et al. 2010

Hydrological Processes

194

157

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Catchment management in the developing world rarely include detailed hydrological components. Here, changes in the hydrological response of a 200-ha catchment management in north Ethiopia are investigated. The management included various soil and water conservation measures such as the construction of dry masonry stone bunds and check dams, the abandonment of post-harvest grazing and the establishment of woody vegetation. Measurements at the catchment outlet indicated a runoff depth of 5 mm or a runoff coefficient (RC) of 1.6 % in the rainy season of 2006. Combined with runoff measurements at plot scale, this allowed calculating the runoff Curve Number (CN) for various land uses and land management techniques. The pre-implementation runoff depth was then predicted using the CN values and a ponding adjustment factor, representing the abstraction of runoff induced by the 242 check dams in gullies. Using the 2006 rainfall depths, the runoff depth for the 2000 land management situation was predicted to be 26.5 mm (RC = 8 %), in line with current RCs of nearby catchments. Monitoring of the ground water level indicated a rise after catchment management. The yearly rise in water table after the onset of the rains (∆T) relative to the water surplus (WS) over the same period increased between 2002-2003 (∆T/WS = 3.4) and 2006 (∆T/WS >11.1). Emerging wells and irrigation are other indicators for improved water supply in the managed catchment. Cropped fields in the gullies indicate that farmers are less frightened for the destructive effects of flash floods. Due to an increased soil water content, the crop growing period is prolonged. It can be concluded that this catchment management has resulted in a higher infiltration rate and a reduction of direct runoff volume by 81 % which has had a positive influence on the catchment water balance.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of soil and water conservation measures on catchment hydrological response—a case in north Ethiopia

Nyssen

Clymans

Descheemaeker

et al. 2010

Hydrological Processes

194

157

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Its foundations have been tested-showing the ability to explain the variance in the intensity of subsistence-like cultivationand variously elaborated and critiqued (10,11,14,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25). Substantial work over the past decade continues to find links between land pressures and agricultural intensification or show the rudiments of household production logic underpinning the thesis (22,23,(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32).…”

Section: Agricultural Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Induced intensification envelopes a constellation of research that has explored the roles of environment, gender, empowerment, social capital, household composition, tenure, off-farm employment opportunities, ethnicity, state policies, level of analytical aggregation, and other factors on agricultural intensification under different land pressures (23,(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41). Relaxing assumptions imposed in Boserup's scheme, this research reveals the conditions leading to the process of land expansion (30,(42)(43)(44) or land abandonment and migration (23,24,27,(45)(46)(47) vs. intensification.…”

Section: Agricultural Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Ester Boserup: An interdisciplinary visionary relevant for sustainability

Turner

Fischer‐Kowalski

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Due to limited surplus generation households do not have the means to invest in natural resource conservation. However, there are examples of resource conservation as a consequence of increasing population densities (Adano and Witsenburg 2004;Tiffen and Mortimore, 1994;Zaal and Oostendorp, 2002). Adano and Witsenburg studied the impact of sedentarisation of nomadic people in Kenya and concluded that in some parts of the Marsabit Mountain area bio-diversity and biomass may have increased, with a positive effect on the water retention capacity.…”

Section: External and Internal Causes Of Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dimensions of vulnerability of livelihoods in less-favoured areas: interplay between the individual and the collective.

Brons¹,

Dietz²,

Niehof³

et al. 2007

Sustainable Poverty Reduction in Less-Favoured Areas

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The geographical concentration of persistent poverty in so-called less-favoured areas calls for a critical look at the link between poverty and environment. Livelihood studies tend to focus on poverty at the individual level, whereas the concept of less-favoured area implies a problem for the collective. Studies on vulnerability tend to be biased towards external ecological causes at the regional level, while studies on coping and survival usually focus on the household. However, recent insights about the internal and external dimension of livelihood vulnerability in less-favoured areas provide an argument for linking both dimensions to dynamics at the individual and collective level. At an aggregate level, individual and household responses to vulnerability lead to intended and unintended effects, while there is also evidence of collective responses to factors originating from the external vulnerability context. These linkages between the external and internal dimensions of vulnerability and responses at the individual, aggregate and collective level should be studied to understand and mitigate current trends of increasing vulnerability of livelihoods in less-favoured areas. Emerging key issues are analysis of change, analysis of livelihood pathways, aggregate consequences of behaviour, and cultural dynamics. ContextThe RESPONSE research program is a joint research program by Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) that was initiated in 2001. RESPONSE is the acronym for Regional Food Security Policies for National Resource Management and Sustainable Economies. The program has a spatial focus on less-favoured areas. Though this paper addresses issues dealt with by the RESPONSE Working Program 2, namely livelihoods and food security, it has a broader scope because it also reviews recent empirical evidence on the subject other than the findings yielded by this working program. It includes the results of recent (2000-5) research on livelihoods in less-favoured areas, more in particular work carried out by researchers of the Dutch research schools Mansholt Graduate School (MGS) and the Research School for Resource Studies for Development (CERES). In this paper less-favoured areas are not just treated as a given context. Instead, the emphasis is on the dynamics of the interfaces between characteristics of less favoured areas and the livelihoods of people in those areas, and the implications of this for vulnerability.

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Explaining a Miracle: Intensification and the Transition Towards Sustainable Small-scale Agriculture in Dryland Machakos and Kitui Districts, Kenya

Cited by 49 publications

References 18 publications

Impact of soil and water conservation measures on catchment hydrological response—a case in north Ethiopia

Impact of soil and water conservation measures on catchment hydrological response—a case in north Ethiopia

Ester Boserup: An interdisciplinary visionary relevant for sustainability

Dimensions of vulnerability of livelihoods in less-favoured areas: interplay between the individual and the collective.

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