Impact of Human Population on Land Degradation in Former Lugari District, Kakamega County, Kenya

IMPACT OF HUMAN POPULATION ON LAND DEGRADATION IN FORMER LUGARI DISTRICT, KAKAMEGA COUNTY, KENYA

RAPHAEL WANJALA WANYONYI, (B.ED) (Reg. No. N5O/15427/2008)

THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES IN THE SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES OF KENYATTA UNIVERSITY

AUGUST, 2012

DECLARATIONS

DECLARATION BY CANDIDATE

This thesis is my original research work and has not been submitted or presented for the award of any diploma or a degree in any University.

Raphael Wanjala Wanyonyi Date: …………………………... (Reg. No. N50/15427/ 2008)

DECLARATION BY SUPERVISORS

We confirm that this research work reported in this thesis was carried out by the candidate under our supervision.

Prof. Shyam Manohar Date: …………………………... Dept. of Environmental Sciences Kenyatta University, Nairobi (Kenya)

Dr. Najma Dharani Date: ………………………… Dept. of Environmental Sciences Kenyatta University, Nairobi (Kenya)

Dr. Paul Obade Date: ………………………… Dept. of Environmental Sciences Kenyatta University, Nairobi (Kenya)

DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to the great memory and honor of my beloved and true late friend Nicholas Nderitu Mugi.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my University supervisors Prof. Shyam Manohar, Dr. Najma Dharani, and Dr. Paul Obade for shaping this work from the scratch, their positive criticisms to the work, and the encouragement that they offered throughout the research journey. My sincere gratitude and acknowledgment to Br. Lawrence Harvey, C.F.X., the General Superior of the Xaverian Brothers Missionaries, and his Council, for supporting me and availing the funds that have enabled me to accomplish this work. I would as well acknowledge Dr. Judy Kariuki for the constant support she offers to the post graduate students in the School of Environmental Studies, Kenyatta University.

I would also like to acknowledge various personalities and institutions that have contributed to the successful achievement of this work. Firstly, I want to extend my gratitude to the Director General, Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Sustainable Development; Dr. James Mwangi Kinyanjui from the Department of Resource Survey and Remote Sensing, Ministry of Environment; District Commissioner’s Office, Lugari; Kenya Forest Service, Lugari Zone; Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Turbo; Kenya Soil Survey; and Kenya Meteorological Department for providing both primary and secondary data plus other information and assistance that was crucial during the research.

In a special way I also would wish to thank my research assistants’ team that was led by my friend Steven Kariuki Mucheke and Timothy Ekiru of Moi University. Last but not least, I want to thank my family for providing me with a conducive atmosphere that I needed during data collection, and my best and close confidant Emmanuel T’sepo Tapole for encouraging me to undertake post graduate studies.

ABSTRACT

The increase in human population has put tremendous pressure on natural resources. In Kenya, the growing human population is associated with an increase in developmental needs thus posing a threat to the land resource. This problem has been noted in the high potential areas of the country which support a large population seeking to fully exploit the land resources for their livelihoods and welfare. In Lugari district, human population has been increasing over the years and people have changed land use systems that have caused a reduced land cover and subsequent land degradation. The main objective of this study was to examine the relationship between the increase in human population and land degradation over a period of 38 years. Specific objectives of the study sought to: determine the extent of land degradation emanating from human activities, to assess the relationship between human activities on land use and land cover changes, and to assess and describe the types of land conservation and management measures that are practiced in Lugari district. To achieve these objectives, the study utilized four land-sat satellite imageries (1973 MSS, 1988 TM, 2003 ETM and 2010 ETM+) that were processed and analyzed using GIS software to produce GIS maps to detect and quantify land cover changes in Lugari district during the years: from 1973 to 1988, and 2003 to 2010. An accuracy assessment of the satellite imageries classification was conducted with field assessment points as reference data and an overall accuracy of 78.57% with a Kappa statistic of 0.75 were obtained. A household survey was also carried out in the study area to identify the activities that are responsible for land use changes and degradation. The data obtained from 100 households were subjected to Pearson’s Moment Correlation and Linear Regression analysis. The outcomes of the land use maps were used to evaluate the impact of human activities on the land and showed that major changes in land use land cover occurred mostly due to increased human activities between the period of seven years from 2003 and 2010. At 95% confidence level, the results indicate a significant relationship between an increase in human population growth / their activities and changes in land use practices resulting in land degradation. The growing trend of the population and consequent demand for food, energy, and area for settlement have considerably altered land use practices, reduced both plantation and natural vegetation cover stratum and severely caused land degradation at large. It was concluded that Lugari district has experienced a rapid growth in human population density during 38 years since 1973. In order to protect ground vegetation cover, the existing forests and vegetation in the area, there is need to encourage afforestation, reforestation, and social forestry programs at all levels in Lugari district. The study also proposes that there is a need to examine the carrying capacity, and to conduct the assessment of the land in the study area. Based on the findings, enforcement of the environmental laws for extra taxation must be introduced to discourage the residents who do deforestation, overgrazing, misuse of land and natural resources.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page No

TITLE PAGE……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...I

DECLARATIONS ...... II DEDICATION ...... III ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...... IV ABSTRACT ...... V TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... VI LIST OF TABLES ...... VIII LIST OF FIGURES ...... IX LIST OF PLATES ...... XI ABREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ...... XII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...... 1

1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ...... 1 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT ...... 3 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...... 4 1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES ...... 4 1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ...... 5 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ...... 5 1.7 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ...... 6 1.9 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY ...... 10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 12

2.1 INTRODUCTION ...... 12 2.2 CAUSES OF LAND DEGRADATION ...... 13 2.3 TYPES OF LAND DEGRADATION ...... 17 2.4 EFFECTS OF LAND DEGRADATION ...... 19 2.5 GLOBAL TRENDS OF LAND DEGRADATION ...... 21 2.6 LAND DEGRADATION IN EASTERN AFRICA ...... 29 2.7 LAND DEGRADATION IN KENYA ...... 32 2.8 MITIGATION TO LAND DEGRADATION ...... 34 CHAPTER 3: MATERIALS AND METHODS ...... 37

3.1 STUDY AREA ...... 37 3.2 DISTRICT’S DEMOGRAPHY ...... 37 3.4 PHYSIOGRAPHIC AND NATURAL CONDITIONS ...... 39 3.4.1 Drainage and hydrology ...... 39 3.4.2 Climate ...... 40 3.4.3 Geology and Soil Characteristics...... 41 3.4.4 Natural and exotic vegetation ...... 43 3.4.5 Agro Ecological Zones (AEZ) ...... 44 3. 5 LAND USE SYSTEMS ...... 45 3.6 DATA COLLECTION ...... 47

3.7 IMAGE ACQUISITION ...... 49 3.8 IMAGE PRE-PROCESSING ...... 49 3.9 LAND USE CLASSIFICATION ...... 50 3.10 GROUND TRUTHING ...... 51 3.11 FIELD DATA ANALYSIS ...... 52 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ...... 53

4.1 LAND USE LAND-COVER TYPES BETWEEN 1973 AND 2010 ...... 53 4.2 EXTENT OF LULCC BETWEEN 1973 AND 2010 ...... 54 4.2.1 Agricultural Land use ...... 58 4.2.2 Land Cover Transitions in Lugari district ...... 60 4.2.3 Wetlands and Cleared Forests (Open Forests) ...... 65 4.2.4 Accuracy Assessment ...... 68 4.3 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POPULATION CHANGES AND LULCC ...... 71 4.4 SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC/ ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESIDENTS ...... 73 4.5 DISCUSSIONS: DRIVERS OF LULCC AND LAND DEGRADATION IN LUGARI DISTRICT ...... 77 4.5.1 Agricultural activities ...... 77 4.5.2 Livestock keeping and Overgrazing ...... 81 4.5.3 Overexploitation of vegetation ...... 84 4.5.4 Deforestation and Tree Harvesting...... 86 4. 6 LINKAGES BETWEEN LULCC AND LAND DEGRADATION ...... 89 4.7 LAND MANAGEMENT MEASURES ...... 94 4.7.1 Forest Plantations/ Reforestation...... 94 4.7.2 Agro-forestry Practices ...... 96 4.8.2 Sustainable water resource management ...... 97 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 99

5.1 CONCLUSIONS ...... 99 5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 100 5.2.1 AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH...... 101 REFERENCES ...... 102 APPENDICES ...... 109

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LIST OF TABLES

Page No

Table 4.1: Land Use Land Cover type for Lugari district ...... 53

Table 4.2: Land use/ cover change for Lugari district between 1973 and 2010 ...... 54

Table 4.3: LULCC in Lugari district between 1973- 1988 ...... 57

Table 4.4: LULCC in Lugari district between 2003 and 2010 ...... 58

Table 4.5: Error matrices and total classification accuracy for classified image of 2010 ...... 70

Table 4.6: Correlation Matrix between Land Use Land Cover Change and Land Degradation in Lugari district ...... 90

Table 4.7: Linear Regression Coefficients for LULCC and Land Degradation in Lugari district ...... 92

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LIST OF FIGURES

Page No

Figure 1.1: Conceptual Framework showing the relationship between variables (Adapted from Mulumba, 2006) ...... 8

Figure 3.1: Map of Kenya showing location of Lugari district (source: Central Bureau of Statistics, 2002) ...... 38

Figure 3.2: Map of Lugari district showing the original administrative division boundaries (source: Central Bureau of Statistics, 2002)…………………………………………………39

Figure 3.3: Map of Lugari district showing the major types of soils and the parent rock (KSS, National Agricultural Research Laboratories, 2011)…………………………………42

Figure 3.4: Lugari district Agro Ecological Zones (source: KSS, 2011)…………………....45

Figure 3.5: Map showing ground field GPS points taken in Lugari district……………..51

Figure 4.1: Geospatial distribution of LULCC between 1973 and 1988 ...... 55

Figure 4.2: Geospatial distribution of LULCC between 2003 and 2010 ...... 56

Figure 4. 3: Trend of changes in the area of land under rainfed agriculture in Lugari district ...... 59

Figure 4.4: Trend of changes in the area of land under sugarcane plantation in Lugari district ...... 60

Figure 4. 5: Trend of changes in the area of land under forest plantation class between 1973 and 2010 in Lugari district ...... 61

Figure 4.6: Trend of changes in the area of land under riverine vegetation in Lugari district 62

Figure 4.7: Trend of changes in the area of shrub land between 1973 and 2010 ...... 63

Figure 4.8: Trend of changes in the area of land under wetlands between 1973 and 2010 ... 67

Figure 4.9: Trend of changes in the area of land under cleared forest between 1973 and 2010 in Lugari district ...... 68

Figure 4.10: Human population growth in Lugari district between 1989 and 2009 (Source: KNBS, 2010)...... 72

Figure 4.11: Changes in human population density in Lugari district between the years 1989 and 2009 (Source: KNBS, 2010) ...... 73

Figure 4.12: Bar charts showing the age of household respondents from Lugari district ...... 74

Figure 4.13: Bar charts showing educational level of household respondents from Lugari district ...... 76

Figure 4.14: Bar charts showing source of livelihood for households respondents ...... 77

Figure 4.15: Bar charts to show the size of land owned by households in Lugari district in the year 2011 ...... 81

LIST OF PLATES

Page No

Plate 2.1: Field photographs showing land degradation due to salinity, wind erosion, water erosion and vegetation destruction in hot, dry areas of the Indian sub-continent (Source: Ajai et al, 2009) ...... 25

Plate 2.2: Aerial view of fragmented forest in Lugari Forest Reserve i.e. forest encroachment where central forest area is cleared for agricultural practices (Source: Lambrechts et al, 2007) ...... 36

Plate 3.1: Mawe Tatu Dam, Kongoni Location, under threat of siltation and pollution due to human activities ...... 40

Plate 4.1 Soil harvesting in shrub land leading to vegetation degradation in Lugari district . 64

Plate 4.2: Agricultural farming and sand mining in a wetland area in Lugari district ...... 66

Plate 4.3: Overstocking and poor roadside drainage causing soil erosion and degradation of land in Lugari district ...... 84

Plate 4.4: Vegetation clearing and charcoal burning causing land degradation in Lugari district ...... 88

Plate 4.5: Livestock grazing in gazzetted forest land in Turbo Forest, Lugari district ...... 96

ABREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

AEZ: Agricultural Ecological Zones CTA: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation DAO: District Agricultural Officer DDP: District Development Plan DELDO: District Environment and Land Development Officer DRSRS: Department of Resource Survey and Remote Sensing ERDAS: Earth Resource Data Analysis System ESMF: Environmental and Social Management Framework ETM: Enhanced Thematic Mapper FAO: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations GDP: Gross Domestic Product GEF: Global Environment Facility GIS: Geographic Information Systems GOK: Government of Kenya GPS: Global Positioning Systems ICLD: International Conference on Land Degradation ICRAF: International Centre for Research in Agro-forestry KARI: Kenya Agricultural Research Institute KEFRI: Kenya Forestry Research Institute KFS: Kenya Forest Service KMD: Kenya Meteorological Department KNBS: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics KSS: Kenya Soil Survey KWS: Kenya Wildlife Services LPG: Liquefied Petroleum Gas LULCC: Land Use Land Cover Change LVILMP: Lake Victoria Integrated Land Management Project MSS: Multi-Spectral Scanner

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NARL: National Agricultural Research Laboratories NEMA: National Environment Management Authority NPP: Net Primary Productivity ROK: Republic of Kenya SSA: Sub Saharan Africa TM: Thematic Mapper UNCCD: United Nations Conference to Combat Desertification UNDP: United Nations Development Program UNEP: United Nations Environment Program USA United States of America WB: World Bank WMO: World Meteorological Organization

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background information

Environmental degradation is a result of the dynamic interplay of socio-economic, institutional and technological forces and factors. The rapid industrial development of recent years has led to a number of shared environmental problems in the world.

These include diminishing forests, altered or lost habitats and loss of biodiversity, severe land degradation, polluted water and declining availability of clean water and the degradation of marine and coastal resources (UNEP, 2002). Population impacts on the environment primarily through over utilization and mismanagement of natural resources and production of wastes that are directly associated with environmental stress which leads to loss of biodiversity, air and water pollution, and increased human and animal population pressure on arable land.

Muchena et al (2005) have defined “land degradation as the loss in productivity of the land and its ability to provide quantitative or qualitative goods or services as a result of natural and human- induced changes in physical, chemical and biological processes”. Land degradation is a permanent decline in the rate at which land yields products useful to local livelihoods within a reasonable timeframe. Land degradation has also been defined as the reduction of the current or future capacity of land to produce (Oluwole and Sikhalazo, 2008). Other scholars have postulated that land degradation, especially due to declining soil fertility is the fundamental biophysical cause of declining per capita food production in Sub-Saharan Africa for the last two decades.

The economic fortune of most developing countries, including Kenya revolves largely around the exploitation of and use of land resources especially in the primary

1 industry such as agriculture. Consequently, land and land use policy are important in economic and social development. The analysis of the future trend for food and agricultural raw materials as well as trends in their supplies have shown clearly that greater rapid increases in food production are needed over and above past trends if the goals of improved nutrition and economic development and poverty reduction are to be achieved (Titilola and Jeje, 2008).

In Sub-Saharan Africa, most economic developments are agriculturally based and about two thirds of African countries depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.

Diagana (2003) explains that in this region, most farmers are small holders with 0.5 to 2 ha of land and who earn less than US $1 a day. Many of the farmers face 3-5 months of hunger, have large families and are malnourished. The fate of the agricultural sector, therefore, directly affects economic growth, poverty eradication programs and the social welfare of livelihood in Africa. Agricultural productivity and food security in Kenya and Africa as a whole are currently under serious threat due to the decline in soil fertility as a net decrease in required nutrients and organic matter.

Land degradation has been widely recognized as a major problem that threatens food production around the world. Among the major causes of land degradation are agricultural practices, shifts in land use, complete removal of natural vegetation, use of heavy machinery and agrochemicals and change in hydrological cycles. The consequences of such practices have been wide-ranging in both on-site and off-site areas. Among these causes, land use change was shown to have the most important environmental consequences through its impacts on soil and water quality, biodiversity; hence, land use practices widely contribute to land degradation (Scherr and Sthapit, 2009). Some studies (Mongi, 2008; Henao and Baanante, 2006) have

2 shown that land use change and conversion could lead to deterioration in the physical and chemical properties of soils and overall degradation of the land.

1.2 Problem Statement

Improving agricultural productivity is central in achieving the Millennium

Development Goals in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, widespread land degradation, exemplified by soil erosion and declining soil fertility, which in turn leads to falling production, remains a big challenge in the region (Kimaru and Jama, 2005). Many small-farm zones have unacceptably high levels of erosion and land degradation

(Gachene and Kimaru, 2003) attributed to various factors. These include frequent cultivation for seedbed preparation without incorporating soil conservation measures, cultivation of steep slopes and hillsides, extending cultivation too close to watercourses and encroaching on wetlands, and turning of vital forests into farmlands and settlements.

There is tremendous pressure on the natural resources due to increasing human population. To meet the demands of large population means the need for more food production, more requirement of energy, more water requirement, better civic amenities for a reasonable quality of life and infrastructural development to sustain increasing pressure to sustain the quality of life (Chaudhary et al, 2008). Ramphelle and McDowell (1991) stated that in rural areas the heavy use of traditional fuel notably wood, has far outstripped the capacity for natural regeneration. Rapid deforestation, soil erosion and general soil depletion have been the result. The 5th

International Conference on Land Degradation (IUSS, 2008) affirmed that land degradation and desertification continue to threaten the livelihood of millions of people worldwide both in poor and rich countries alike.

In Lugari district, human population has been increasing over the years and people

have changed the land use systems that have caused a reduction in land cover. The

present study has sought to determine the impacts of high population density on land

use and the resulting land degradation in former Lugari district, Kakamega County.

In view of the increasing effects of resource constraints on the global economy, there

is need for more targeted research on ecological-economic interaction and to review

the national policies and action plans to give more attention to land use policies and

sustainable land management to prevent land degradation and loss of productive

lands.

1.3 Research Questions

This research focused to answer the following questions as listed below:

I. What is the extent of land degradation in Lugari district, Western Province of

Kenya that has come as a result of land use/ land cover change?

II. Is there any relationship between the land use practices and land degradation

in the study area?

III. How effective are the measures/ practices undertaken by the local community

in controlling the trend of land degradation in this area?

1.4 Research Hypotheses

This study was guided by the following two hypotheses: a) Lugari district has experienced significant extent of land degradation b) Land degradation in Lugari district is caused increased human population density and

activities

4 c) The communities have adopted land management and conservation measures in

Lugari district

1.5 Research Objectives

The main objective of this study was to examine the relationship between the human

population growth, its activities and land degradation in Lugari district, Western

Province, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were as follows:

i. To determine the extent of degraded land due to human population growth

and its activities in the area.

ii. To assess the relationship between high human population pressure and

activities on land use, land cover change and land degradation in Lugari

district.

iii. To identify the measures that are undertaken by the community, local

administrative body and the role of the government to control land

degradation and enhance land management practices in this area.

iv. To propose appropriate land use methods which enhance sustainability

against a rising or changing human population.

1.6 Significance of the Study

Land has become a scarce resource in Lugari district due to the increase in human

population density. The needs of a growing population in the study area exert

pressure on the environment in a number of ways. For instance, people make new

cropland by encroaching and clearing forests and other vegetation cover leading to

land degradation. Land fragmentation into smaller, uneconomical units is common in

the area, overstocking and grazing in forested lands, draining and cultivation of crops

in wetland areas, encroachment and clearing of vegetation cover for infrastructural

5 development are among the common anthropogenic factors causing land use and land cover change and subsequent land degradation in Lugari district. The negative impacts resulting from these activities include but are not limited to: scarcity of water for domestic and industrial use, soil erosion, loss of vegetation cover and biodiversity, poor agricultural harvests, increased poverty among the population among other negative trends.

The results in this study will anticipate a better understanding of the inter-linkages / relationship between human population activities and land degradation in Lugari district, Kakamega County, Kenya and the country as a whole. This is needed against a background of land degradation that has affected the country and the fact that a rising human population poses a greater threat to the land resource. The findings of the study will help to review the policies and the role of the local community emphasizing on conservation measures and proper land use planning and management to control and reverse the trend of environmental degradation which is a direct threat to the future livelihoods in the district, and the country as a whole.

Proper enforcement of proper policies will also assist the government and the local community in seeking alternative means to poverty eradication and to restore their own environment for the better survival for future generations.

1.7 Conceptual Framework

A conceptual framework shows or displays the relationships between the variables and their indicators. The impact of human population on land degradation can be conceptualized at a fairly general level as shown in the framework above. Land degradation has been said to be a widespread global problem. According to FAO

(2008) over 20% of cultivated areas, 30% of forests, 10% of grasslands are suffering from degradation thus affecting about 1.5 billion people across the world. Pender et al (2006) state that population pressure, indicated by higher population density, affects the expansion of agriculture and the labor intensity of agriculture by affecting the land/labor ratio. It may cause households to expand agricultural production into areas less suited to agriculture, contributing to lower agricultural productivity and natural resource degradation, as argued two centuries ago by Thomas Malthus and more recently by the Brundtland Commission of 1987. Consequently, land degradation may increase as a result of cultivation on fragile lands, reduced use of fallows, increased tillage, mining of soil nutrients and other potential results of agricultural expansion and intensification, consistent with Malthusian predictions.

Response Measures  National/Regional soil Fertility protection policies  Family planning  Regional Development  Reform of Agricultural In Migration programs  Regulations/Directives

Increasing Human Population

Increased Social Economic Activities  Land cultivation Changing-land use  Livestock keeping and reduced land Pressure on Land  Logging cover  Nutrient mining  Quarry and sand harvesting  Habitat alteration  Deforestation  Urban expansion  Encroachment

Increasing Land/Soil Degradation  Increasing soil erosion  Reduced vegetation cover  Biodiversity loss  Change in soil functions  Water stress

Declined Land/Soil Productivity  Decreased water availability  Increased food insecurity  Impoverishment of population  Conflicts over resource  Greater Migration of Population  Further Biodiversity Loss Figure 1.1: Conceptual Framework showing the relationship between variables

(Adapted from Mulumba, 2006)

This degradation may be due to numerous factors or a combination of factors, but in our study the anthropogenic activities are assessed to be the causes of land degradation. From our conceptual framework, increasing human population brings about certain changes in the population e.g. a change in sex and age profile, demographic transition, and a change in income. This rise in human population would probably lead to increased socio-economic activities such as cultivation, deforestation, livestock keeping, soil/sand harvesting, and brick making to cater for the needs of the population. At the same time, an increasing human population coupled with its socio-economic activities would result to a change in land use and reduced land cover. A change in land use and land cover may result to increased evapotranspiration from soils thus reducing the amount of water available to primary producers including crops and hence stress during plant growth. Removal of vegetation will obviously lead to loss of moisture and hence less ability to support plant and vegetation growth. An increase in the loss of vegetation will consequently lead to loss of habitat for animals and therefore lead to a degraded ecosystem

(Maitima et al, 2004).

A drastic change in land use and reduced land cover may result to habitat alteration, encroachment, and inappropriate use of marginal lands thus leading to increasing land degradation. Soil degradation is also accelerated and typically associated with socio economic activities that modify the natural environment to support or sustain the needs of the population. Land degradation would then lead to various problems that would affect the livelihood of the population in the ecosystem such as reduced availability of potable water, reduced volumes of surface water, soil erosion less vegetation cover, loss of biodiversity, loss of livestock/animals, reduced agricultural yields, and depletion of aquifers. If land degradation is not addressed by appropriate

9 conservation measures, then it will eventually lead to declined land/ soil productivity.

The effects of declined land productivity would include but not limited to food insecurity, increased poverty among the people, conflicts over access to resources, mass migration of people, and general decline in economic and national development. Lastly, declined land productivity may tricker again changing land use and further accelerates a reduction in land cover.

1.9 Justification of the Study

Like many other Sub-Saharan African countries, Kenya relies on agriculture.

However, food production in this region is currently under threat due to massive land degradation. Lugari district is purely a rural district where land use is majorly subsistence agriculture and livestock keeping for livelihood and sustainability. The district is experiencing considerable growth in terms of human population, developmental activities such agriculture, infrastructural development, deforestation and brick making. These human activities have resulted in increased land consumption, modification, and alteration of the status of the land use and land cover over time. This situation is of concern in that these changes have and are still occurring without a detailed and comprehensive attempt to determine, keep track of and evaluate their status on the land in the district.

This study was undertaken to determine the rate of land use land cover change due to the impact of human activities in Lugari district from 1973 to 2010 as well as to account for the inherent spatial changes, extent of change, and identifying the responsible factors for the changes. The information of the study will be useful in providing a more informed and well structured land use plan for Lugari district, and provide a basis for more effective natural resources management. It will also assist in

10 monitoring the dynamics of land use emanating from the changing demands of the district’s increasing population. These results are useful to the district and county authorities, natural resources managers, the local community of Lugari district, and other principal authorities to manage and conserve the natural resources and plan effectively land uses in the district to curb the trend of land degradation.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

Land degradation has been defined as the loss in productivity of the land which provides quantitative or qualitative goods or services as a result of natural and human- induced changes in physical, chemical, and biological processes (Muchena et al, 2005). The IUSS (1999) defined land degradation as the decline in land quality due to natural processes or anthropogenic activities. It also stated that land degradation can also be considered and defined in terms of the loss of actual or potential productivity or utility of land as a result of natural or anthropogenic factors.

Land degradation, therefore, is the decline in land quality or reduction in its productivity and environmental regulatory capacity. This phenomenon results from a mismatch between land quality and land use. Land degradation processes include physical, chemical and biological processes that set in motion the degradation trends

(Eswaran, 2001). Maitima et al (2004) define land degradation as a reduction or loss of biological or economic productivity or complexity of cropland, or range, pasture, forests and woodlands resulting from land uses or from processes including those arising from human activities such as soil erosion, deterioration of the physical, chemical and biological or economic properties of and long term loss on natural vegetation.

Bai et al (2008) defined land degradation as the loss long term loss of ecosystem function and productivity caused by disturbances from which the land cannot recover unaided. Land degradation thus encompasses a loss in the productivity of the land and the ability of the environment to support fully ecosystem functions. A degraded landscape lacks the ability to provide proper ecosystem services, and this will result

12 to a change in the normal processes in the ecosystem. For the purpose of this research, we define land degradation as a process by which the natural or economic productivity of the land has been impaired due to human activities. We intently specify human activities so as to focus the discussion on land degradation caused by economic activities and not to cover the broader spectrum that includes degradation caused by natural forces.

Land degradation is the loss of beneficial goods and services derived from terrestrial ecosystems, which include soil, vegetation, other plant and animal life, and the ecological and hydrological processes that operate within these systems. Among the more visible forms of land degradation are desertification, deforestation, overgrazing, salinization, and soil erosion, all of which can result from either human activities or natural causes (Nkonya et al, 2011).

2.2 Causes of Land Degradation

Causes of land degradation refer to the agents that determine the rate of degradation of the land or the environment. These are biophysical, e.g., land use and land management including deforestation and tillage methods, socioeconomic, and political forces that influence the effectiveness of processes and factors of land degradation (IUSS, 1999). Land use affects land cover and changes in land cover affect land use. A change in either, however, is not necessarily the product of the other. Changes in land cover by land use do not necessarily imply degradation of the land. However, many shifting land use patterns driven by a variety of social causes, result in land cover changes that affects biodiversity, water and radiation budgets, trace gas emissions and other processes that come together to affect climate and

13 biosphere(Opeyemi, 2006). As this process continues, land degradation is likely to occur on a varying scale.

Nkonya et al (2011) identified biophysical and unsustainable land management practices as the immediate causes of land degradation. However, unsustainable land management practices, such as deforestation, forest degradation, soil nutrient mining, and cultivation on steep slopes, are also identified as the direct contributors to land degradation. Population density, poverty, land tenure, and access to agricultural extension, infrastructure, and markets, as well as policies that promote the use of land degrading practices were outlined as the underlying causes of land degradation by

Nkonya et al (2011).

In most parts of the world, land degradation occurs due to human activities and natural factors. Pressure on land use due to urbanization and industrialization exerts excessive pressure on the environment’s natural resource base thus causing land degradation in both poor and rich countries of the world. In Bhutan, for instance, land degradation is said to be mostly manifested in displacement of soil material through water erosion and internal biophysical and chemical deterioration. These processes are reported to be triggered by human induced activities in the mountainous terrain of the country (UNEP, 2009).

Another major cause of land degradation in the world today is the loss of vegetation due to pressure on forests resulting from increased demand for construction material by both the domestic and industrial sectors. Similarly firewood extraction from forest lands in poorly developed countries of the world also exerts pressure to forests and increases the rate of deforestation thus causing land degradation (WMO, 2005).

According to Ademiluyi et al (2008), Africa has the fastest rate of deforestation in the world. Competing land uses which are mainly agriculture and human settlements are said to be contributing to the decline of forest and woodland areas and the rising demand for fuel wood and charcoal is also a major cause of deforestation and land degradation. Over harvesting, agricultural encroachment and unregulated burning are believed to be contributing to the decline of many species in the wild. Depletion and degradation of the natural resource base intensifies competition to less stressed areas

(Ademiluyi et al, 2008).

Maitima et al (2004) explained that soil erosion is a common phenomenon in the intensively grazed areas and this is linked to the continuous grazing without appropriate soil and pasture management practices. Expansion of livestock farming practices and the increase in their number and in some places mixed with rainfed agriculture (a common trend in Sub-Saharan Africa) in low potential areas leads to soil erosion. The practice of keeping large herds of livestock tend to remove vegetation cover thus leaving the land bare and vulnerable to different forms soil erosion that cause land degradation. Oldeman et al (1991) had earlier reported that of the total degraded area, overgrazing, agricultural mismanagement, deforestation, and overexploitation of natural resources account for 49%, 24%, 14%, and 13% respectively. Human induced factors such as overgrazing, deforestation, and inappropriate agricultural activities poses a serious threat to land productivity

(Msangi, 2004).

Land degradation as earlier stated is a biophysical process driven by socioeconomic and political causes. High population density is not necessarily related to land degradation, but what the population does to itself and to the land that it depends on will determine the extent of land degradation (IUSS, 2008). This conference also

15 affirmed that, subsistence form of agriculture, poverty among the population, and illiteracy, are important causes of land and environmental degradation. Population is an important source of development, yet it is a major source of environmental degradation when it exceeds the threshold limits of the support systems. Poverty is said to be both a cause and an effect of environmental degradation. Poor people who rely on natural resources for the livelihood deplete natural resources faster due to lack of alternatives and prospects of gaining access to other types of resources

(UNEP, 2007). Urbanization is another factor that causes environmental and land degradation. Lack of opportunities and employment in the rural areas causes much youthful population to migrate to urban centers. Rapid and unplanned expansion of cities and towns to accommodate the rising population results in degradation of the urban environment by widening the gap between demand and supply of infrastructural services such as energy, housing, water, transport, communication, among other social amenities. This process then leads to depletion of environmental resource base in the urban areas causing degradation.

According to Diagana (2003), high population growth and migration in response to the shortage of land resources are important factors contributing to the degradation of agricultural land in SSA. Sub Saharan population continues to grow at higher rates than any other region of the world thus increasing the need for more food, fiber, and other resources. Dreschel et al (2001) confirmed a significant relationship between population pressure, reduced fallow periods, and soil nutrient depletion. This indicates a generally unsustainable nexus between a changing population, agriculture and environment that leads through a downward spiral into a poverty trap (Dreschel,

2001). In the same line, Muchena et al (2005) identified poverty and economic pressure, high rates of population growth, insecure land tenure, agricultural

16 mismanagement of soil and water resources, lack of agricultural intensification, deforestation, overgrazing, and shifting cultivation as factors that are widely responsible for land degradation in SSA. Thus land degradation is largely a consequence of socio-economic constraints, dynamics of natural resource systems, and policy distortions on land use and management.

Ningal et al (2007), using remote sensing to study land use change and population growth in Papua New Guinea, reported that the driving force for most land use changes is population growth even though there are other interacting factors. They stated that the need for increased food production results amongst others, in the conversion of forest and grassland to cropland, a process that accelerates land degradation. A region’s or country’s ability to supply food to its population is largely determined by productivity of the land, the ability to maintain crop yields, or the ability to purchase imported food (Ningal et al, 2007). Kayhko et al (2010) used GIS techniques to study the dynamic land use and land cover changes and their effects on forest resources in Zanzibar, Tanzania. They reported that about 6 million hectares of primary forest is lost annually due to agriculture, logging, and other human activities responsible for land use and land cover changes (FAO, 2006; Lambin et al, 2003).

With such magnitude of forest losses, there is overall concern on the prevailing land use practices, such as shifting cultivation and extraction of forest materials as important agents of forest losses and degradation.

2.3 Types of Land Degradation

Different types of land degradation occur in varying capacity in different places in the world. For instance, some types of land degradation are prevalent in rural areas with subsistence agriculture as the main form of land use. Depletion of soil nutrients

17 is a type of land degradation that is widespread in areas where land cultivation for subsistence farming is intensive. It also occurs as a result of removal of crop residue from farmlands either by burning or using them for other domestic purposes. This type of degradation intensifies the acidity levels in the soils, may trigger soil erosion, and also reduces crop yields (FAO, 2001). Diagana (2003) reported that degraded soils amount to about 494 million ha in Africa. His report had also estimated that

65% of SSA’s agricultural land is degraded because of water and soil erosion, chemical and physical degradation.

Depletion of soil organic matter is another type of degradation that is widespread. It mainly occurs as a result of intensified human activities that lead to conversion of land cover e.g. forests, grasslands, shrub lands etc to arable lands. This type of degradation leads to reduced soil biodiversity, crop yield and crop cover, and weakens the soil structure (Scherr, 1999). Loss of vegetation cover resulting from deforestation and overcutting of trees beyond permissible limits, unsustainable fuel wood extraction, shifting cultivation, encroachment into forest lands, forest fires, overgrazing, and extension of agriculture into lands of low potential are some of the factors that contribute to this type of land degradation (UNEP, 2002).

Soil erosion is another common type of land degradation in the world. Soil erosion refers to the deterioration of soil structure by the physical movement of particles

.from one site to another. Wind, water, animals, and land use activities by man that involve the use of tools are the main causes of soil erosion. Soil erosion is a natural process but it usually becomes a problem when human induced factors accelerate its rate of occurrence in the environment (Hoffman and Todd, 2000). Worldwide, farmers are losing an estimated 24 billion tones of topsoil each year. In developing countries, erosion rates per acre are twice as high as the standard, partly because

18 population pressure forces land to be more intensively farmed. Although soil erosion is a physical process, it also affects productivity and growth (IUSS, 2008). With such massive losses of soil particles, proper land use practices that emphasize sustainability and conservation are needed. Poor vegetation cover in most dry lands of Africa contributes to wind erosion in these areas leaving the ground bare.

Farmlands that are prone to this type of degradation also experience nutrient depletion with poor soil fertility since the top fertile soils are carried away by the agents of erosion.

2.4 Effects of Land Degradation

According to Eswaran et al (2001), land degradation will remain an important global issue for the 21st century because of its adverse impact on agronomic productivity, the environment, and its effect on food security and quality of life. Land degradation impacts directly and indirectly in many ways on people’s livelihoods, their vulnerability and food security (McDonagh et al, 2006). Land degradation has potentially severe implications for food security, rural livelihoods, and environmental attributes such as biological diversity. Not only does degradation diminish the quality of the remaining land resources but also it undermines the life–support functions of the soil for both human welfare and the health of the natural environment (IUSS,

1999).

Land degradation is the major impact on global food security and the quality of the environment (WMO and UNCCD, 2006). At present about 11% of the global land surface is considered as prime land, which is cultivated and used to feed approximately more than six billion people and this must feed the 6 billion people and it is predicted that about 8.2 billion human population will need food in the year

2020. If proper measures will not be taken then, long-term food productivity is

19 threatened by soil degradation. At present, under mismanagement of the crop yields have declined approximately 16% of the agricultural land. The highest rate of land degradation is in Sub-Saharan Africa where the livelihood of the inhabitants of the dry land areas is constantly under threat. It is estimated that losses in productivity of cropping land in Sub-Saharan Africa are in the order of 0.5–1% annually, suggesting productivity loss of at least 20% over the last 40 years (WMO and UNCCD, 2006).

Bationo et al (2006) also emphasized that land degradation is the most serious threat to food production, food security, and natural resource conservation in Africa. They explained that the African population is trapped in a vicious cycle between land degradation and poverty, and the lack of resources and knowledge to generate adequate income and opportunities to overcome the challenges of land degradation.

In Kenya over the period 1981-2003, NPP increased in woodland and grassland, but hardly at all in cropland; across 40 per cent of cropland it decreased - a critical situation in context of a doubling of human population over the same period (Bai and

Dent 2006). In South Africa, NPP decreased overall and 29 per cent of the country suffered land degradation, including 41 per cent of all cropland (Bai & Dent 2007); about 17 million people, 38 per cent of the South African population, depend on these degrading areas. Land degradation has triggered large-scale population movements, disrupted economic development prospects, aggravated regional conflicts, and threatened the lives and livelihoods of people living under its shadow.

The effort to ending poverty and hunger is one that must involve sound environmental management and sustainable development practices. The sustainable management of land resources will help achieve first Millennium Development Goal

20 by increasing the incomes of the poor and reducing threats to food production in vulnerable areas. (World Bank, 2002; McDonagh et al, 2006)

Land degradation also contributes to biodiversity loss as habitats are reduced, and to climate change. The Global Species Assessment (IUCN, 2004) states that habitat destruction and degradation is the major threat faced by globally threatened birds and amphibians, affecting 86% and 88% of threatened species, and 86% of the threatened mammals for which data are available. This is because the majority of these species occur in tropical forests, where the most serious habitat loss is taking place. Maitima el al (2004) explained that a reduction in vegetation cover reduces the capacity of soil to retain moisture for plant productivity which was found to be a direct link of how biodiversity loss leads to land degradation and vice versa. A further reduction in vegetation cover is also a factor that leads to an increase in soil erosion and thus to loss in soil fertility.

2.5 Global trends of Land Degradation

Eswaran et al (2001) estimated that the total annual cost of soil erosion from agriculture in the USA is about US$ 44 billion per year, about US$ 247 per ha of cropland and pasture. Most of the erosion that leads to land degradation occurs as a result of urban sprawl and encroachment that leads to disturbance of the natural environment. For instance, the population of Las Vegas in 1950 was 24,624 and in

1960, it increased to 64,405. By 1980, Las Vegas had a population of 164,674.

Today, the Las Vegas Valley’s population tops one million, and this does not include the tourist population. Las Vegas is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the USA and it is predicted that the population will double by 2015, causing the rate of

21 conversion of the arable and forestlands to urban use to grow in the same proportion as the population (Eswaran et al, 2001; FAO, 2005).

According to Lutz et al (1994), land degradation is one major problem to the sustainability of agricultural production in Central America and the Caribbean. They assert that surprisingly, little empirical analysis has been done on the causes and severity of land degradation problems and on how to address it. Many conservation practices have failed because farmers often have not adopted the recommended conservation practices or have abandoned them once the project ended. In Argentina for instance, Bai et al (2008) reported that land degradation is severe and widespread not only in dry lands, but also in the most productive parts of the country. It threatens food and water security, economic development, and natural resource conservation strategies. It is further argued that overgrazing has led to the progressive elimination of palatable species from the high plateau in the north of the country. Human activities such as wood cutting for timber, firewood, and charcoal were reported to be the causative agents of land degradation and have depleted the woodlands in

Argentina. Soil erosion by wind and water plagues both rangeland and cropland, and it has been an intractable problem leading to abandonment of land especially in the

North West of the country (UNEP, 2007).

As highlighted by Ji (2008), competition for resource requirement that is propelled by population growth has been a major driving force for land use change over the past 30 years in Central Asia. He states that pressures behind land degradation in this region are prevalent such as overgrazing, over-cropping, and lack of appropriate soil fertility management, mining, logging, mono-cropping and alien invasive species also affect traditional land use in some countries of Central Asia (Ji, 2008).

According to UNEP (2009), South Asian economies are mainly based on agriculture

22 and therefore, land is an important resource. The region that occupies 4.8 per cent of the world’s total land area, displays an extraordinary diversity of landforms due to climatic regimes, latitudes, altitudes and topography. Land, in South Asia, is under immense pressure as agriculture, urban land and wild areas all compete for the same resource. The demand for land has increased, along with the intensity of land use, and this combination culminates in environmental damage and the degradation of land quality. Land degradation is a major problem in all South Asian countries.

Degradation caused by water is perhaps the greatest challenge facing South Asia, as many areas have periods of high rainfall and steep mountainous regions. Modern methods of agriculture have contributed to land degradation, with practices such as overuse of fertilizers and pesticides, excessive irrigation of saline lands and shifting agriculture (UNEP, 2009).

India occupies only 2.3% of the world’s land surface geographical area 148.94 million sq. km, yet supports about 16.7% of the world’s human population; it has only 0.5% of the world’s grazing land but supports 18% of the world’s cattle population. Thus there is tremendous pressure on the land-based natural resources.

India is endowed with a variety of soils, climate, biodiversity and ecological regions

(Ajai et al, 2009). The rapid population growth and economic development in the country are degrading the environment through the uncontrolled growth of urbanization and industrialization, expansion and intensification of agriculture, and the destruction of natural habitats. One of the major causes of environmental degradation in India could be attributed to rapid growth of population, which is adversely affecting the natural resources and environment (Nagdeve, 2002).

Population growth and economic development are contributing to many serious environmental problems in India. These include pressure on land, land/soil

23 degradation, forests, habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity, changing consumption pattern, rising demand for energy, air pollution, global warming and climate change and water scarcity and water pollution (Nagdeve, 2004). Intensive agriculture and irrigation have been identified as the major drivers of land use activities that are degrading most of the land in the Indian sub-continent. Direct impacts of agricultural development on the environment arise from farming activities, which contribute to soil erosion, land salinization and loss of nutrients. The spread of green revolution has been accompanied by over exploitation of land and water resources and use of fertilizers and pesticides have increased many folds.

Shifting cultivation has also been an important cause of land degradation (Nagdeve,

2004).

Plate 2.1: Field photographs showing land degradation due to salinity, wind erosion, water erosion and vegetation destruction in hot, dry areas of the Indian sub-continent (Source: Ajai et al, 2009)

In Africa, Bationo et al (2006) estimated that at least 485 million people are affected by land degradation, making it one of the continent’s urgent development issues with significant costs: Africa is burdened with a $93.3 billion annual cost because of desertification (Bationo et al, 2006). Further estimates show that $42billion in income and 6 million ha of productive lands are lost every year in SSA due to land degradation and declining agricultural productivity (UNDP & GEF, 2004). Globally,

Africa suffered a net loss of forests exceeding 4 million ha/year between 2000 and

2005 as it is reported by FAO. This was mainly due to conversion of forest lands to agriculture and other land uses. Forest cover in Africa at this time went from 656 million ha to 635 million ha.

Most countries in Africa heavily depend on agriculture that is dominated by subsistence production. The performance of agricultural sector in Sub Saharan Africa was the worst in the third world countries in the last quarter of the last century.

Agriculture is still based on traditional methods of production with little use of modern inputs. The low level of productivity in this sector is exhibited in the fact that while the sector employs about 67 percent of labor force in Africa, it contributes for only 17 percent of the total gross domestic product (World Bank, 1995). Henao and

Baanante (2006) mentioned that Africa is projected to import more than 60 million metric tons of cereal yearly by the year 2020 to meet the demand for food. Africa’s food security situation has deteriorated significantly over the past two decades. One reason is that farmers in Sub Saharan Africa have traditionally cleared land, grown a few crops, and then moved to clear more land, leaving the land fallow to regain fertility. With an increase in population, the natural process of nutrient regeneration in many parts of Africa is not practical today, and soil nutrient depletion is on the increase.

Eswaran and Reich (2001) have stated that the Mediterranean countries of North

Africa are very highly prone to desertification. In Morocco, for instance, erosion is so extensive that the petrocalcic horizon of some Palexeralfs is exposed to the surface.

They as well indicate that West African countries with their dense populations have a major problem to contain the processes of land degradation. Overgrazing, expansion of agricultural lands and lack of external inputs are the major causes of land degradation in the continent. This is because many African farmers and pastoralists

26 respond to declining land productivity by abandoning existing degraded land and moving to new land (Barbier, 1999). Farmers in SSA do not sufficiently improve their land management practices to the conditions of continuous cultivation and shorter fallow periods and this is as a result of increased population pressure.

Henao and Baanante(2006) further argue that the declining fertility of African soils because of soil nutrient mining is a major cause of decreased crop yields and per capita food production in Africa and, in the mid to long term, a key source of land degradation and environmental damage. FAO (2003) claims that as population grows, degradation of the soil resource base has been on the increase in East Africa.

Increasing pressures on agricultural lands have resulted in much higher nutrient out flows and the subsequent breakdown of many traditional soil fertility maintenance strategies, such as fallowing and the opening of new lands. Farm sizes, especially in the high-potential areas have also been reduced to the point where adequate living can only be obtained if land is farmed intensively and if there is an off-farm income

(Sanchez et al, 1997). Soil regeneration through long term fallow periods can no longer be maintained thus leading to massive land degradation.

Oluwole and Sikhalao (2008) state that land degradation is a widespread environmental problem in Southern Africa. Most people in Southern African region live in rural areas and depend on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods. These people depend on land for agricultural production or conservation keeping in mind that a large area in the region equivalent to more than 70 % is arid or semi-arid while part of it is complete desert (Msangi, 2004).

The process of land degradation in Southern Africa is blamed on water and wind erosion, sedimentation, long-term destruction of vegetation and diminution of the

27 bio-resources. The type of land use in place as well as surface physical configuration has been reported to be key drivers of land degradation in Southern Africa. For instance, just like in most parts of Kenya, majority of the farmers found in rural areas of southern Africa are poor and practise small-scale rain fed agriculture and or agro- pastoralism (Msangi, Undated).

In Zimbabwe for instance, Mark and Kudakwashe( 2010) state that since the early

1980’s, vast transformations have occurred in the land use and land-cover patterns as evidenced by persistent expansion in cultivated land, decrease in natural woodland, and grassland in the world as well as in Zimbabwe. They further indicate that land is becoming a scarce resource due to immense agricultural and demographic pressure in

Zimbabwe and that land use and land cover change has become a central component in current strategies for managing natural resources and monitoring environmental changes such as land degradation.

In South Africa, land degradation is severe and widespread. It threatens food and water security, economic development, and natural resource conservation. The former homelands now called communal lands are a major concern; they are characterized by high human and animal populations, overgrazing, soil erosion, wood harvesting, and the loss of palatable pasture species (Hoffman and Todd,

2000). The trend is attributed to the combination of poverty and failure of regulation arising from both socio-economic changes and a legacy from the previous apartheid regime.

Population pressure and unsustainable human activities such as over-cultivation of land which exhausts the soil, overgrazing which removes the vegetation cover that protects the soil from erosion, deforestation which removes trees and vegetation which binds the soil to the land, and poorly designed irrigation systems that turn the

28 soil saline have been noted by Msangi (Undated) as the key drivers of land degradation in the Southern African region.

2.6 Land Degradation in Eastern Africa

Land use changes in East Africa have transformed land cover to farmlands, grazing lands, human settlements, and urban centres at the expense of natural vegetation.

These changes are associated with deforestation that reduces the land cover, biodiversity loss, and land degradation (Maitima et al, 2009). Expansion of cultivation in many parts of East Africa has changed land cover to more agro- ecosystems and less cover for natural vegetation. These changes are fueled by a growing demand for agricultural products that are necessary to improve food security and generate income not only for the rural poor, but also for the large-scale investors in commercial farming sector (Maitima et al, 2009). Food production in Kenya, for example, is reported to have increased steadily between 1980 and 1990, but because of population increase, the food supply in calories per head fell slightly during that same period (Lambin et al, 2003). Historically, humans have increased agricultural outputs mainly by bringing more land into production. Indeed as Lambin et al (2003) further state land conversion to agriculture in East Africa has outpaced the proportional human population growth in recent decades. Natural vegetation cover has not only given way to cropland, but also to native or planted pasture.

Maitima et al (2004) report in their findings that land use in East Africa varies widely on the type of crop planted, the size of plots per land use type, and land management and cropping system. Farm sizes from the small vegetable gardens at the backyards of many homesteads through a multiple of medium sized mixed farming systems to

29 large commercial mono crop farming and livestock production systems. All these land use systems were developed from the initial land covers of natural vegetation that was less or not disturbed by human activities. It is very crucial to note that by converting and reducing the initial land cover that was self-regulating within natural processes, human activities have brought about certain modifications to the ecosystems to suite their own needs with little or no regards at all to the effects that these conversions bring to the quality of the natural resources and the environment

(Maitima et al, 2004). It has been observed that land quality in the man modified ecosystems degrades quickly over time resulting into higher demands for farm inputs in order to improve the productivity of the land. A loss of biodiversity has also been observed in East Africa due to a changing land use land cover pattern in this region of Africa.

Gachene and Kimaru (2003) have also mentioned that agriculture in these countries is dominated by millions of smallholdings that generally operate far below their potential. Many small-farm zones have unacceptably high levels of erosion and land degradation attributed to various factors. These include frequent ploughing for seedbed preparation without incorporating soil conservation measures, cultivation of steep slopes and hillsides, extending cultivation too close to watercourses and encroaching on wetlands, and turning of vital forests into farmland and settlements

(Kimaru and Jama, 2005).

The economies of the three East African countries are heavily dependent on agriculture, which accounts for between 30 and 40% of national Gross Domestic

Product (GDP). The sector provides 80% of employment, over 50% of export earnings and the bulk of the nations’ food (Kimaru and Jama, 2005). In Uganda,

Birungi (2007) has established through research that land degradation is mainly

30 manifested through soil nutrient depletion and soil erosion. He further states that studies of land degradation in Uganda are limited, but available estimates indicate that the rate of soil fertility depletion in Uganda is among the highest in SSA with an estimated average annual rate of total nutrient depletion of 70 kg of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium per hectare in the 1980’s. He has further mentioned that the extent of land degradation in Uganda varies from one district to another depending on the levels of poverty, awareness, availability of extension services, population density, climatic and agro-ecological differences, among others. Increase in population pressure is considered as one of the most important factors behind the declining use of fallows and increased land fragmentation in Uganda. Population growth which affects soil degradation in a number of ways increases the pressure on arable lands, resulting in land fragmentation, cultivation of marginal lands, and reduced fallow periods (Birungi, 2007).

Mongi (2008) while addressing the CTA seminar in Burkina Faso stated clearly that land degradation has been a top environmental problem before and after independence of Tanzania. The main forms of land degradation is deforestation and especially widespread in areas that hosted refugees, overgrazing is widespread but severe in the central, Midwestern, Lake Victoria zone and some parts of Northern part of Tanzania. Another dominant form of land degradation is destruction of grassland areas through wild fires, and slope cultivation which is widespread among highland areas. Mongi (ibid) as well highlighted that soil erosion is rampart and occurs in 61 % of the entire land in Tanzania. Land degradation in the central areas of Dodoma, Shinyanga, Mwanza, Arusha, and Tabora has already exceeded the natural regeneration of these areas (Andersson and Slunge, 2005). The Tanzanian population increased from about 7 million people in 1948 to 34 million in 2002

(Madulu, 2004). The present annual growth rate of the population is 2.8%, and the population is expected to further increase to about 44 million people in 2015 (World

Bank, 2003). Although linkages are complex, the increase in population growth has increased pressure on the natural resources in Tanzania thus accelerating the rate of environmental degradation.

2.7 Land Degradation in Kenya

Kenya is marked as one of the countries in Africa whose current population exceeds the land capacity to produce agricultural products due to land degradation (Henao and Baanante, 2006). In Kenya the main forms of soil degradation are erosion due to wind and water, soil nutrient depletion, salinity, acidity, compaction, reduction in organic matter, and the effects of toxic chemicals and pollution (Lang, 2004). Water erosion prevails in the intensively used farming areas, while wind erosion is dominant in the large arid and semi arid lands in the country. Unsustainable human activities that take place in already fragile areas and that are aggravated by natural disturbance such as drought or flooding lead to land degradation and desertification.

Kenya’s 2002 National Action Program on desertification reported the following:

“The existing ecological conditions in dry lands are harsh and fragile. These conditions are exacerbated by frequent drought and the influx of people from the high potential areas into the dry lands. Overgrazing and subdivision of land into uneconomic land parcel sizes have further worsened them. Under these circumstances, dry lands are getting more and more vulnerable to desertification in

Kenya (Republic Of Kenya, 2002).

In the early 2000s, approximately 30 per cent of the land of Kenya was affected by very severe to severe land degradation (UNEP, 2002) and an estimated 12 million people, or a third of the Kenya’s population, depended directly on land that is being degraded (Bai et al., 2008). The droughts of 1970-2000 accelerated soil degradation and reduced per-capita food production (Republic Of Kenya, 2002). More recent studies extrapolating on local findings of spatial and temporal patterns of land degradation estimate that it is increasing in severity and extent in many areas and that over 20 per cent of all cultivated areas, 30 per cent of forests, and 10 per cent of grasslands are subject to degradation (Muchena, 2008). A 2006 pilot study found that potential areas of land degradation, defined as places where both net primary productivity and rain-use efficiency (the ratio of net primary productivity to precipitation) were declining, occupied 17% of the country and 30% of its cropland.

The expansion of cropping into marginal lands accounts for much of this degradation. It identified the dry lands around Lake Turkana and marginal cropland in Eastern Province as the areas of sharpest decline (Bai and Dent, 2006).

Illegal and irregular encroachments and settlements are the most pressing threats to forest conservation. Not only do they lead to total destruction of the forest cover, but they also mean a de facto change of the status of the land (Lambrechts et al, 2007).

An aerial monitoring of forest boundaries carried out in 2007 by Kenya Wild Service and Kenya Forest Service in conjunction with UNEP covered Lugari Forest Reserve as well. The main findings of the aerial monitoring of Lugari Forest Reserve are:

Large forest areas are devoid of tree cover (Lambrechts et al, 2007). The pictures for

Lugari Forest Reserve were not provided, but the picture in plate 2.2 depicts forest encroachment trend in the region.

2.8 Mitigation to Land Degradation

Reversing global trends of land degradation is all about better and simpler technologies, better national policies, and sustainable land use planning and management strategies. The IUSS (1999) stated that the greatest prospect for reversing land degradation is the evolution of real farmer-led community institutions that take charge and transform the way research and extension in land management are done particularly in the rural areas. For instance, mulching is a simpler method of incorporating crop residue in the soil while preventing excessive loss of water from the growing plants. This method would help to retain soil fertility in many parts of

Africa where small-scale farming is carried out if the farmers would be educated on its significance. The local communities of rural farmers need to be educated and encouraged to develop their own independent institutions that are managed by them with little or no assistance from the outside stakeholders. This practice would ensure that the issues of mitigating land degradation and adopting proper land use planning emerge from the local community rather than from what would be considered outside. In mitigating land degradation as well, local institutions that are initiated and guided by the public sector should be established but they need to work hand in hand with the local institutions of the rural farming communities in order to combat land degradation and maintain proper soil fertility.

Muchena et al (2005) pointed out that land degradation in East Africa needs to be considered within the set of choices facing the rural households about the allocation of resources, where people can best invest labour and capital and on how they can make choices to reduce the risks. Proper investment in rural areas would encourage a number of livelihood strategies such as off-farm incomes, migration and social investments which in the long run would assist in reducing pressure on arable land

34 and eventually curb the rise in land degradation. Prager et al (2010) outlined three different types of measures that can be effective in supporting soil/ land conservation. They discussed mandatory measures that are generally in the form of environmental legislation which follow a command and control approach and cross compliance regulations. These measures are said to have been very effective in the

European Union framework. Another form of measures that could be necessary in curbing agricultural land degradation are the voluntary, incentive-based measures that are mainly offered through agricultural environmental policies, and lastly advice and awareness raising measures or campaigns that are driven by a range of actors from the government to the private sector(Prager et al, 2010).

Another possible means of mitigating land degradation particularly in Sub-Saharan

Africa is exploring technology and improving farming techniques such as introduction of new crops or mixed cropping. Without improved or soil fertility management techniques, land use change will continue to affect the sustainability of agricultural production as a result of soil fertility depletion (Ningal et al, 2008).

Arresting land degradation does not only depend on generating reliable data on the issue, but one needs to contextualize the problem within the biophysical environment, its causes and impacts within the broader livelihood strategies and poverty related cases especially in the rural households ( Muchena et al, 2005).

Prager et al (2010), on the other hand, discuss that many studies have revealed the need to design policies that target the existing soil threats and processes in the light of agricultural management but at the same time to consider farm management constraints. They suggest that more communication and cooperation between agricultural and environmental authorities as well as between governmental and non- governmental stakeholders is a precondition for effective and cost-efficient policies.

Plate 2.2: Aerial view of fragmented forest in Lugari Forest Reserve i.e. forest encroachment where central forest area is cleared for agricultural practices (Source: Lambrechts et al, 2007)

CHAPTER 3: MATERIALS AND METHODS

3.1 Study area

Lugari district is one of the many districts forming Western Province. It borders

Kakamega and Nandi district to the south, Bungoma to the west, Uasin Gishu to the east, and Trans Nzoia to the north. Lugari district occupies a total area of 670.2 sq. km which translates to 0.12% of the total area of Kenya. The district lies at the

0 altitude of 1300 and 1800 metres above sea level. It lies between longitudes 34 28´

0 0 0 and 35 east and between latitude 0 25´ and 1 north of the equator. The district originally had three administrative divisions, i.e., Lugari, Likuyani, and Matete, but these have ceased to be and now stand as independent districts.

3.2 District’s Demography

During the 1999 population and housing census, Lugari district had a population of

215,920 with an annual growth rate of 2.21%. This population was projected to increase to almost 300,000 by the end of the year 2008 (Republic of Kenya, 2005).

However, during the 2009 housing and population census, the district had a population of 292,151 with an annual growth rate of 4.1%. The high population increase will definitely have negative impacts on the development of the district as well the pressure on land and natural resources available in the district. This will result due to inadequate socio-economic facilities to cater for the increased population. In addition, this will cause more sub-division of land to un-economical units thus affecting agricultural activities as well as proper land use planning and management (Republic of Kenya, 2009).

Figure 3.1: Map of Kenya showing location of Lugari district (source: Central Bureau of Statistics, 2002)

Figure 3.2: Map of Lugari district showing the original administrative division boundaries (source: Central Bureau of Statistics, 2002)

3.4 Physiographic and natural conditions

Lugari district lies between altitudes 1300m and 1800m above the sea level. It is hilly and rocky towards the east which gradually falls into a plain as it progresses towards the south part of the district (Republic of Kenya, 2009).

3.4.1 Drainage and hydrology

Lugari district falls within the larger Nzoia River basin. River Nzoia is one of the main rivers that traverse the district. River Nzoia originates from the Cherangani

Hills in Trans-Nzoia district. The river forms the northern part of the boundary with

Bungoma district. Another major river traversing the Lugari district is the Kipkaren

River which flows down south to join River Nzoia shortly after Lugari Railway station. The district also has several small natural and man-made water reservoirs or dams that are mainly used as watering points for livestock, agriculture, and some

39 domestic uses. Most of these dams are under threat due to unsustainable human activities. The picture on the following page will be a better illustration of the challenges of sustaining this water points and reservoirs.

Plate 3.1: Mawe Tatu Dam, Kongoni Location, under threat of siltation and pollution due to human activities

Other than the two main rivers, Lugari district also has numerous small pockets of rivulets/ streams flowing through it to join the two major rivers at different points in the entire district.

3.4.2 Climate

The general climate and rainfall pattern of Lugari district are of equatorial type. The temperatures vary between 6 ºC and 23 ºC in the areas of altitude as high as 1800m and between 18 ºC and 24 ºC in the areas of altitude as low as 1300m. The rainfall pattern experienced in Lugari district is a bimodal with long rains usually occurring

40 between March and August while short rains are observed in October and November.

The months of December to February are normally a dry spell in the entire region.

The annual rainfall received ranges from 1000mm to 1600mm with an annual average of about 1300mm.

3.4.3 Geology and Soil Characteristics

Various soil types are found in the entire Western Province. The soils of the mountains, hills, plateaus, and foot slopes, are excessively drained to well drained, very shallow to shallow, dark reddish brown, stony and rocky, sandy clay loam to clay, in places with an acid humic topsoil15and/ or moderately deep to very deep soils. The dominant soils in the study area are those that developed from granite and feldspar guises and those from undifferentiated basement rock systems which have low natural fertility (KARI & ICRAF, 2003; Republic of Kenya, 2009). Well drained deep red to dark, sandy loams to sandy clays that are not very fertile but deep and well drained soils are the characteristic soil types found in Lugari district. Along

River Nzoia, there is a complex of imperfectly drained and poorly drained very deep- dark grey to dark grayish brown sandy to clay in higher areas, while some perches of regosil and lithosols are found around Mwamba characterized by being shallow and rocky soils. Figure 3.3 shows the soil map of Lugari district.

FigurePlate 3 .3.33.3:3: :Map Map of of Lugari Lugari district district showing showing the the major major types types of of soils soils and and the the parent parent rock rock (KSS, National Agricultural Research Laboratories, 2011)

3.4.4 Natural and exotic vegetation

The overall vegetation found in Lugari district is composed of mixed exotic species such as Cupressus spp, Pinus spp, Eucalyptus spp, Gravellea robusta etc and indigenous tree species such as Croton megalocarpus, Ficus exasperata, Lantana camara, and Venonia spp. In extreme cases, one can find wooded grasslands of varying density and species composition in the area. Most of the natural forests that once existed in the larger Lugari district were felled and replaced over time by exotic tree species of mainly Cupressus spp, Eucalyptus spp and Pinus spp. The total area of gazetted land covered by forest in the district is 83.9 Km2. There are three main forests in the district which are Nzoia, Lugari, and Turbo forests (Republic of Kenya,

2009). The gazetted forests and bushlands in the district have indigenous species such as Croton megalocarpus, Lantana camara, Teclea mobilis, Celtus durandii,

Aningeria altissima, Bligia unijuguta, Solanum macrocolex and some varying species of Accacia.

Currently, the vegetation that forms the major land cover for the district can be divided into various categories as riverine forests with species such as Zyzgium gueneense Croton megalocarpus, Terminalia brownie, Vitex damania, and Cordia

Africana, among other trees; bushlands are composed of species such as Acacia nilotica, Ficus natalensis, Markhamia lutea and Erythrina abyssinica, and grasslands. The riverine vegetation is composed of remnants of natural forests that are found along the major rivers and rivulets that are found in Lugari district. They form the most promising sites for fast growth of biomass for both forests and agricultural activities. There exists intense pressure on these forests as they still hold the rare indigenous species and useful commercial resources for the community in the district. Parts of these riverine areas are considered appropriate for some form of

43 agricultural development whereby the use of irrigation water and drainage is envisaged (Republic of Kenya, 2009).

Bushlands are mainly found on the hills and ridges which are located throughout the district. These areas are characterized by thick natural vegetation covers that are very distinct from the high forests and grasslands. These resources occur in areas such as

Maturu, Manyonyi, and Mautuma hills, among others, in the district. These forests are threatened by degradation due to encroachment for settlement and cultivation, by extension of boundaries by the neighboring communities, overgrazing, deforestation and burning. Grasslands are areas within the gazzetted forests in the district that are predominantly with grass vegetation. They are grazing areas for local communities hence are threatened with overgrazing and forest fires. Areas with distinct grassland vegetation include areas in Lugari, Nzoia and Turbo forest stations. Others are found in wetlands within the forest land and on private farms throughout the entire district.

3.4.5 Agro Ecological Zones (AEZ)

The District is mainly covered by two agro-ecological zones, i.e., Upper Midland

(UM3/UM4) zones and Lower Midland (LM2 LM3-4) zones (KSS, 2011). This is in accordance with the FAO (1996) system of classification of the agro ecological zones. The upper midland zone covers mostly the central and the northern part of the district where intensive maize farming is carried out both for commercial and subsistence purposes. The extension of this zone covers a marginal coffee zone in

Sinoko and Nzoia Locations of the district. The Lower Midland Zone covers the small portion of the southern part of the district where maize and mostly sugarcane

44 farming is carried out. Figure 3.4 shows the major agro-ecological Zones found in

Lugari district.

Figure 3.4: Lugari district Agro Ecological Zones (source: KSS, 2011)

3. 5 Land use systems

An overall situation of rapidly declining land-holding sizes remains a major problem in Western Province as well Lugari district. The main reason for this decreasing average land size is the fragmentation of land through heritage, which in turn is not

45 only due to the traditional hereditary system, but is also partly due to the lack of economic alternatives outside farming, and related to land being a secure asset and a place to retire. Population increase is also a factor in land fragmentation in this region of Kenya (ESMF, 2004). Conversion of woodlands, forests, and wetlands into agricultural production has accelerated in recent years with significant negative impact on the natural resource base. Studies conducted in the context of the Lake

Victoria Integrated Land Management Project (LVILMP) uniformly indicate the occurrence of severely accelerated land degradation in the Lake Victoria watershed and the entire Western Kenya region.

Lugari district can be roughly divided into three different land use zones. Small-scale subsistence maize, sorghum, vegetable and sunflower characterize most parts of

Lugari division which forms the central portion of the study area. Both large-scale and small-scale sugar plantations and smaller maize schemes are located in Matete division plus livestock keeping. Thirdly, Both large scale and small-scale maize farming and livestock keeping characterize the larger Likuyani division. Small-scale tea farmers are also found in the periphery of this division especially in Nzoia location. Soil degradation and soil nutrient mining characterize many land use types.

The most degraded parts of the landscape, both in terms of nutrient deficiencies and soil physical degradation, are areas currently used for open grazing and extraction of fuel wood. Areas currently used for subsistence agriculture are characterized by both types of degradation, but with lower prevalence rates than in grazing areas. In part, the lower prevalence may be due to abandonment of severely degraded cropland.

Proximal causes of degradation on croplands include low investments in physical or biological methods of soil conservation and low use of external sources of mineral

46 fertilizers. The main livelihood strategy in Lugari district is majorly farming with most of the households directly depending on agriculture.

A part from agriculture, other forms of land use that are common in Lugari district include areas of land under gazzetted which accounts for about 83.9 Km2 while the rest of the land is under urban development, transport and telecommunication network, public institutions, industries, quarries and mining, wetlands, water catchments, hills and rocks.

3.6 Data Collection

The study utilized four Landsat satellite imageries that were obtained from DRSRS and Regional Centre. The satellite imageries covered the area of study for the period ranging from 1973 to 2010. The land sat images for the area were available since

1973, had high temporal resolution, and were easily available and affordable. The images were processed and analyzed using GIS software to produce GIS maps that were used to quantify and detect land use and land cover changes in the district for the years 1973, 1988, 2003, and 2010. These years were selected based on the land sat images that had been secured covering the entire area of study.

The study also conducted a survey using a set of questionnaires in 100 sampled households on socio economic aspects such as land use activities, household composition, income/source of livelihood, education, and land management and conservation measures at household levels. The Lugari District Strategic Plan 2005-

2010 for the implementation of the National Population Policy for Sustainable

Development was used as the sampling frame for the collection of household data.

First, the three administrative divisions of Lugari district were selected based on agro-ecological diversity and distinct forms of land use and land cover. Secondly,

47 selection of locations and sub-locations also based on agro-ecological diversity and land use land cover distinct forms was carried out. In the final stage, the desired number of households was selected from the sub-locations making a total of 100 households (40, 35 and 25 from Likuyani, Lugari and Matete divisions respectively).

A different set of questionnaires was administered to the officials from KFS,

KEFRI, DAO, NEMA, DELDO, and civic leaders among other stakeholders in the area.

Interviews were also carried out in the study area with an aim of unearthing the major causes of land cover land use change in the district. Key respondents in this exercise included officials from the KFS, KEFRI, DAO, DELDO, and NEMA. From the questionnaires, the households provided information on the farming practices in the district, soil quality, status of the fields, production trends per annum, and general livestock data in the households, and any land management practices available in the households and in the community at large. Officials from the government agencies provided information on present land use practices in different parts of the district, and causes of land use/ land cover change in the area. The researcher also employed field survey technique as a tool for data collection. Seto et al (2002) explained that in recent times, social scientists have begun to use satellite imagery to address issues at the interface of economics, politics, and natural environment. Among these research activities is to attempt to integrate remote sensing data with socio-economic data in order to understand the anthropogenic causes of land conversion that lead to land use and cover change. Getting socio-economic data was also necessary because land degradation is a biophysical process driven by socio-economic among other factors

(IUSS, 1999). The study also employed field observation and photo recording techniques to gather and capture information on indicators of land degradation. Field

48 survey also provided opportunities to the researcher to gather and review the available existing secondary data and documentations from the District Offices.

Among the frameworks accessed were development plans, legislative acts and strategy documents, and other related studies within Kenya and over the globe.

3.7 Image acquisition

The study used four land sat satellite images of different years to come up with the land use land cover maps and classification of Lugari district. A Multi Spectral

Scanner (MSS) of 1973, Landsat Thematic Mapper, TM of 1988, Enhanced

Thematic Mapper, ETM of 2003 and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus, ETM+ of

2010 were acquired for the study. These images were obtained from the Regional

Centre for Mapping of Resources for Sustainable Development, Kasarani Nairobi,

Kenya. The images were then used for the classification of land use land cover types and change detection for Lugari district. The Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery provides seven Multi Spectral channels (3 visible, 1 near-infrared, 2 mid- infrared, 1 thermal-infrared) at 30-meter resolution (120-meter resolution for the thermal-infrared band). Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) adds an extra 15- meter resolution panchromatic band and improved resolution for the thermal-infrared band (60-meters).

3.8 Image Pre-processing

To estimate the current land use land cover status for Lugari district, ERDAS 9.2 and

ArcGIS 9.2 were used for the image geo-referencing and processing. This was performed in order to capture as much detail as possible relating to forested plantations, farmlands, cleared forests, sugarcane zones, shrubs and riverine

49 vegetation. Various color composites and band ratios were derived to enable image interpretation. In particular cases, 7, 4, 2 which provide natural-like color and causes ground features to in their natural colors similar to the way they appear to the human eye was used, and 4, 3, 2 which is the false color composite and offers a lot of information and color contrasts hence enabling the classification was as well used.

3.9 Land use Classification

The image classification process involved both supervised and unsupervised classification in order to come up with a current depiction of the state of land use and land cover in the district. Six vector layers of vegetation areas i.e. forest plantation, cleared forests, agricultural farmlands, sugarcane zone, riverine vegetation, and shrub lands were digitized as training sites for the supervised classification. On screen digitization was applied to separate different land use clusters. These provided spectral signatures which guided the classification process as all pixels were assigned to a class in which they fitted into the range of an identified land use type. The land use land cover extents of all the years were derived from the satellite images using the RS software ArcGIS 9.3 and Geo Vis 2.0 through on-screen digitizing. Using the reflectance generated by each land use pattern, all the already decided classes were obtained. The supervised classification process was verified by the field data (ground truthing) with the help of a Global Positioning System (GPS). During this exercise, plot-based method of sampling was employed. Plots measuring 50 meters by 50 meters were purposely sampled in relation to the key land use land cover classes that had been selected and identified as training sites for supervised image classification.

GPS waypoints were taken from the plots with the ground accuracy that was ranging between 6 to 9 meters. A general description of the area was taken and the land use

50 land cover of the sampled plot was recorded. Key vegetation species in the sampled plots were also recorded.

3.10 Ground Truthing

Figure 3.5 shows the positions that were accessed during the field survey and ground truthing exercise in Lugari district with an aim of making a comparison between the real situations on the ground as it stands now and the digital maps representation that have been obtained from the satellite images over the years.

Figure 3.5: Map showing ground field GPS points taken in Lugari district

3.11 Field Data Analysis

The data collected during field survey in the district were first collated, and then assigned to numerical codes. Both questionnaires were designed in such a way that the vital statistics on the responses would be sought, and included variables such as sex, household composition, occupation and educational level of the household members, land ownership, and land management practices. These data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 18. Variables such as sex, land ownership, land use among others were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as cross tabulations and frequencies. Relationship strength using

Linear Regression and Pearson’s Moment Correlations were conducted (confidence level of 95%) to test the relationship between human activities and land use land cover change (drivers of land degradation) in Lugari district (Field, 2005).

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Land use land-cover types between 1973 and 2010

The supervised and unsupervised image classification for Lugari district produced four types of maps for land use land cover of the area from MSS, TM, ETM and

ETM+ images. The classification categorized the area into seven main land use/ cover classes as elaborated in the Table 4.1.

Table 4.1: Land Use Land Cover type for Lugari district

Land use/ cover type Description

Forest plantation Areas of high indigenous or exotic tree density that have been planted by man covering an extensive area in Lugari district Cleared forest Areas within the forest boundaries in Lugari district that are without tree cover or possess very few to scattered trees, shrubs and herbs Rainfed agriculture Areas of land in Lugari district that have been used under cultivation of crops with rainfall as the source of water Riverine vegetation Areas of natural vegetation cover found along the rivers and rivulets that traverse Lugari district Scrub land Areas dominated by shrubs and other short vegetation in Lugari district that do not qualify to be called forest Sugarcane plantation Areas of land in the district that have been put under cultivation of sugarcane as the main crop for commercial purposes Wetlands Areas of land in the district that are permanently covered by water masses for more than one season or a year

The rate of land use land cover change emanating from human activities in Lugari district generally has been significant over the years as the results from the maps output indicate. The maps show that the southern narrow end of the district is dominated by sugarcane plantations throughout the time series while the central

53 wider part of the district covers areas that are dominant with forest plantations, rainfed agriculture, open forests, shrub lands, and few traces of riverine vegetation as well are found in this region of Lugari district. The upper northern part of the district is dominated by rainfed agriculture and riverine vegetation.

4.2 Extent of LULCC between 1973 and 2010

The contingency tables obtained from the remote sensing based-classification shows the extent of each type of land use/ cover class at different study periods of the area.

For instance, Table 4.2 gives a summary of the total area of land under each class in

Lugari district between 1973 and 2010.

Table 4.2: Land use/ cover change for Lugari district between 1973 and 2010

LAND USE Area (Ha) Area (Ha) Area (Ha) Area (Ha) 1973 1988 2003 2010

Forest 6736.1340 6841.0110 6223.8730 4785.4440 Plantation

Open forest 4079.4790 3749.9640 3593.8730 4671.2300

Rainfed 45836.9280 46124.4620 46002.9100 46423.4500 agriculture

Riverine 2129.1820 2010.6750 1810.3720 1210.6250 vegetation

Scrubland 2277.3720 2079.7410 1819.5510 1659.6800

Sugarcane 5690.5480 5993.7910 7399.1540 7999.2040 plantation

Wetland 261.2460 211.2450 161.1560 121.2560

Total 67010.8890 67010.8890 67010.8890 67010.8890

Figure 4.1: Geospatial distribution of LULCC between 1973 and 1988

Figure 4.2: Geospatial distribution of LULCC between 2003 and 2010

For purposes of comparison, the rate of change in LULC in the area was divided in two broad periods of time i.e. 1973 – 1988 period, and 2003 – 2010 period. Table 4.3 and 4.4 gives a summary of the changes that have occurred in the LULC in the area for the two broad periods respectively.

Table 4.3: LULCC in Lugari district between 1973- 1988

LANDUSE Area (Ha) Area (Ha) Annual Percentage 1973 1988 change (ha) change (%)

Forest Plantation 6736.134 6841.011 104.877 1.557 Open forest 4079.479 3749.964 -329.515 8.078 Rainfed agriculture 45836.928 46124.462 287.534 0.627 Riverine vegetation 2129.182 2010.675 -118.507 5.566 Shrubland 2277.372 2079.741 -197.631 8.678 Sugarcane plantation 5690.548 5993.791 303.243 5.329 Wetland 261.246 211.245 -50.001 19.139

Table 4.4: LULCC in Lugari district between 2003 and 2010

LANDUSE Area (Ha) Area (Ha) Annual Percentage 2003 2010 change (ha) change (%)

Forest Plantation 6223.873 4785.444 -1438.429 23.111 Open forest 3593.873 4671.23 1077.357 29.978 Rainfed agriculture 46002.91 46423.45 420.54 0.914 Riverine vegetation 1810.372 1210.625 -599.747 33.128 Shrubland 1819.551 1659.68 -159.871 8.786 Sugarcane plantation 7399.154 8139.204 740.05 10.001 Wetland 161.156 121.256 -39.9 24.759

4.2.1 Agricultural Land use

The general trend observed for agricultural land use in the district is that it has been on the rise throughout the study period. For instance, the area of land under rainfed agriculture increased from about 45, 836 ha to 46, 124 ha (Table 4.3) between 1973 and 1988. This was a percentage change of 0.63 in a period of 15 years. In the next study period, the area of land under rainfed agriculture changed slightly from 46,002 ha to 46, 423 ha (Table 4.4). This period recorded a percentage change of 0.9 in only seven years. Compared to the previous period, this was a significant change in land use over a short period of time that was mostly accelerated by human activities of the changing population in Lugari district. To meet the additional requirements of food of the growing population in the district, intensive cultivation of land was undertaken which brought about clearing of shrub vegetation and destruction of wetlands to

58 bring more land under agriculture. Figure 4.3 provides a trend line that shows how this land use class has changed over the years in the study period.

46500 46400 y = 163.8x + 45687 46300 46200 46100 46000 45900 45800

Area (Hactares) Area 45700 45600 45500 1973 1988 2003 2010 Time (Year)

Rainfed Agriculture Trendline

Figure 4. 3: Trend of changes in the area of land under rainfed agriculture in Lugari district

Sugarcane farming is another key form of agricultural land use in the southern parts of Lugari district. Sugarcane is grown for commercial purposes. The area of land under sugarcane plantations increased throughout the study period. From 1973 to

1988, the area of land under sugarcane plantations increased from 5,690 ha to 5993 ha marking a 5% increase in 15 years (Table 4.3), and between 2003 and 2010, this same land use increased from 7399 ha to 8139 ha, recording a 10% change in only 7 years. This shows significant increase in human population and activities on the land that cleared vegetation to expand farming in order to sustain the rising needs of the changing population. Since sugarcane is mainly grown for commercial purposes, more land is required for its cultivation as the population changes over time. the loss of about 600 ha of land originally under riverine vegetation and further destruction of about 40 ha of land under wetlands show a significant relationship with the increased

59 land under sugarcane plantation in the district. Figure 4.4 is a trend line giving the general pattern of land use change under sugarcane plantations in Lugari during the study period.

9000 8000 y = 875.13x + 4617.8 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000

Area (Hactares) Area 2000 1000 0 1973 1988 2003 2010 Time (Year)

Sugarcane Plantation Trendline

Figure 4.4: Trend of changes in the area of land under sugarcane plantation in Lugari district

4.2.2 Land Cover Transitions in Lugari district

A part from agricultural land use and cover, forest plantations, riverine vegetation, and shrub lands form other major types of land use/ cover classes in the district.

Significant changes have also been recorded in these land use/ cover classes during the study period. Forest plantations recorded a positive deviation of about 104 ha or a

1.5% increase between 1973 and 1988, but then marked a sharp decline of about

1438 ha or a 23% decrease between 2003 and 2010 (Table 4.3 and Table 4.4). This happened at the time when the areas of land under both rainfed agriculture and sugarcane plantations were increasing steadily. Unsustainable logging/ harvesting of forest products due to higher demands of timber and building material might have

60 accelerated these sharp changes in forest plantations. The rate of deforestation was higher as compared to re-afforestation and other forest management efforts, and that’s why, significant decline has been recorded in a period of seven years as compared to the slight increase in area of land under this class in fifteen years. Figure

4.5 shows the general trend line for forest plantations in Lugari district since 1973 to

2010.

8000 y = -646.92x + 7763.9 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000

2000 Area (Hactares) Area 1000 0 1973 1988 2003 2010 Time (Year)

Forest plantation Trendline

Figure 4. 5: Trend of changes in the area of land under forest plantation class between 1973 and 2010 in Lugari district

Riverine vegetation forms one of the key examples of natural land cover found in this area. This class of land cover dominates the upper northern part of the district, commonly along the rivers and rivulets scattered in the district, and the narrow southern part of the district dominated by sugarcane farming. Significant changes in this class have also been witnessed as a result of the impacts of the changing population in the area. From table 4.3, the area of land under riverine vegetation decreased by about 118 ha between 1973 and 1988 marking a percentage change of

5.5 in a period of 15 years. Table 4.4 indicates that this same land cover class further declined by about 599 ha of land between 2003 and 2010 marking a percentage decrease of 33 in a period of seven years. Expansion of agriculture and encroachment for settlement among other human activities emanating from a high population density contributed to these significant changes in this land cover category. In the same period of time, the total area of land under sugarcane plantation increased tremendously by about 740 ha meaning that destruction of riverine vegetation was carried out by human population to create more land for sugarcane expansion. Figure

4.6 is the trend line showing how significant changes are taking place in this key natural land cover in the area.

2500

2000

1500

1000

Area (Hactares) Area 500

0 1973 1988 2003 2010 Time (Year)

Riverine Vegetation Trendline

Figure 4.6: Trend of changes in the area of land under riverine vegetation in Lugari district Apart from riverine vegetation, shrub lands form another category of land use/ cover under natural vegetation in Lugari district. This form of land use is only restricted in certain areas in Lugari district. This class of land use/ cover has recorded changes, but not as significant as those changes recorded by other forms of land use/ cover

62 classes. Between 1973 and 1988, shrub lands decreased by about 197 ha marking a percentage decline of 8.6% in fifteen years (Table 4.3). Between 2003 and 2010, shrub lands further declined by 159 ha and marked an 8.8% decrease in a period of seven years (Table 4.4). With the increasing demand for food, grazing lands, building material, and infrastructural developments for the changing population, more land had to be created by clearing vegetation such as shrubs which show a declining trend throughout the study period. Figure 4.7 is the trend line for shrub lands.

2500

2000 y = -211.33x + 2487.4 1500

1000

Area (Hactares) Area 500

0 1973 1988 2003 2010 Time (Year)

Shrubland Trendline

Figure 4.7: Trend of changes in the area of shrub land between 1973 and 2010

Another factor that is contributing to loss of shrubs is massive soil harvesting that is taken away and used for construction purposes and decorating of temporary houses in the area (plate 4.1).

Plate 4.1: Soil harvesting in shrub land leading to vegetation degradation in Lugari district

This practice of soil harvesting from the areas that harbor natural vegetation is accompanied by massive destruction of vegetation, soil erosion, and loss of biodiversity in the area.

4.2.3 Wetlands and Cleared Forests (Open Forests)

Wetlands are a minor class of land use or land cover found in Lugari district.

Significant changes have been recorded during the study period for small areas that were captured during image processing and were classified as wetlands. For instance,

Table 4.3 and Table 4.4 show that the total area of land under wetlands during the beginning of the study period was about 211 ha and about 121 ha at the end of the study period in 2010. Wetlands play very significant role in the environment and their loss or destruction is directly linked to environmental degradation. For instance, wetlands are known to protect water quality by removing and breaking down sediments, nutrients, and toxins, they also provide floral diversity and wildlife habitat protection in the ecosystem, and wetlands also form an important hotspot for care and protection of biodiversity. Wetlands nourish the land during the dry periods, and they also form important habitats for biological diversity in the environment.

Wetlands have declined in size in this area due to human activities such as mining of sand in wetlands, clearing of swampy vegetation for agricultural expansion thus leaving the wetlands open and susceptible to high evaporation rates and drying up.

Other factors that have led to decreasing sizes of wetlands would include draining and clearing them for farming activities and construction of settlement areas, increased rate of soil erosion from farmlands which bring massive sediment loads into the wetlands causing them to decrease in size and eventually disappear.

Plate 4.2: Agricultural farming and sand mining in a wetland area in Lugari district

Erosion of chemical fertilizers by storm waters from the surrounding agricultural farms drain nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous into the wetlands hence causing accelerated growth of algae causing the wetlands to decline and reduce in size. In the first period, i.e., between 1973 and 1988 the total area under wetlands in the district decreased by about 50 ha or a 19.1 % fall in 15 years while in the second period, i.e., between 2003 and 2010, the total area of land under wetlands further declined by about 40 ha marking a percentage fall of 24.8% in 7 years. This means that human activities intensified in the area between 2003 and 2010 as a result of increased population that put a lot of pressure on environmental resources thus causing degradation.

300

250

200

150 y = -47.006x + 306.24

100 Area (Hactares) Area 50

0 1973 1988 2003 2010 Time (Year)

Wetland Trendline

Figure 4.8: Trend of changes in the area of land under wetlands between 1973 and 2010

Other notable changes in land use/ land cover from the maps and the tables are the area under open or cleared forest. Significant changes have also been witnessed in this category of land use/ land cover during the study period of the area. Open forest

67 declined in magnitude between 1973 and 1988 by 8% in a period of fifteen years, but rose steadily from 1988 throughout 2003 to 2010 and recorded a significant percentage increase of about 30 in a period of seven years. The massive changes that occurred in this land use land cover category are closely linked or associated to the rising demands for agricultural land and settlements by the changing population density in the area. The area of land under cleared forest reduced in size between

1973 and 1988 by about 329 ha partly because the area under forest plantation increased by about 105 ha and the decline in riverine vegetation at that same period was minimal as compared to the period between 2003 and 2010.

5000 4500 y = 161.92x + 3618.8 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500

Area (Hactares) Area 1000 500 0 1973 1988 2003 2010 Time (Year)

Open Forest Trendline

Figure 4.9: Trend of changes in the area of land under cleared forest between 1973 and 2010 in Lugari district

4.2.4 Accuracy Assessment

It is important to be able to perform accuracy assessment for individual classification if the resulting data is to be useful in change detection analysis (Abd El-Kawy et al,

2010). To test the classification process, an accuracy assessment was carried out using the classified data and the referenced data. Information or data obtained using a

GPS during ground investigation (ground truthing) in the area of study coupled with random points that were identified and located using a stratified random method in

ERDAS software to represent the different land use types and vegetation classes in

Lugari district was used as reference data for the accuracy assessment. The reference data and the classification results were compared and statistically analyzed using error matrices, and the results are shown in Table 4.5.

Table 4.5: Error matrices and total classification accuracy for classified image of 2010

Classification Reference Data accuracy

Open Rainfed Sugarcane Forest Producers Users Classified Data Unclassified Forest Agriculture Shrubland plantation Wetland plantation Accuracy Accuracy Kappa

Unclassified 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 ------1.0000

Open Forest 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 50.00% 75.00% 0.6818

Rainfed Agriculture 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 66.67% 100.00% 1.0000

Shrubland 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 100.00% 75.00% 0.7200

Sugarcane plantation 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 100.00% 75.00% 0.7200

Wetland 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 100.00% 25.00% 0.2222

Forest plantation 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 80.00% 100.00% 1.0000

Total Accuracy 78.57% 0.7500

From error matrix table output, an overall total accuracy of 78.57% and a kappa statistic of 0.75 were obtained. The Users accuracy is a probability that shows how many cases on the results or the classified image were correctly classified while the

Producer’s accuracy is a probability that shows how many known classes of land use and vegetation cover were correctly classified.

4.3 Relationship between Population Changes and LULCC

Population change is an important factor that influences land use and land cover changes and eventual land degradation. Population size and growth tend to expand and accelerate human activities hence human impacts on the environment may cause degradation. An attempt was made to examine how population transitions have occurred in the study area. Population is an important source of development, yet is a major source of environmental degradation when it exceeds the threshold of the support system or the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. The population growth of

Lugari district from 1989 to 2009 is presented in figure 4.10. The total population size of the district had grown from 142,783 in 1989 to around 310,939 persons in

2009. The population of the district had more than doubled during the period 1989-

2009.

Birungi (2007) explained that population growth and density is considered to be one of the most important factors behind the declining use of fallows and increased land fragmentation in Uganda. Lugari district entirely falls in the rural area where land is majorly put under cultivation and settlements. For instance, direct impacts of agricultural development to sustain the rising population arise from farming activities which contribute to soil erosion, a change in the soil salinity, and to some degree, loss of soil fertility.

The area has experienced significant change in human population density throughout the study period, and it is therefore evident that a reduced land cover and land use change witnessed in the area is related to increased human activities throughout the entire period of study. A higher population density leads to subdivisions of land into uneconomical units, thus more pressure on natural resources available in the area.

350000 300000 250000 200000 150000

Population 100000 50000 0 1989 1999 2009 Year

MALE FEMALE TOTAL

Figure 4.10: Human population growth in Lugari district between 1989 and 2009 (Source: KNBS, 2010)

High population density also subjects much pressure to the available environmental resources leading to unsustainable use of natural resources at many times and possible depletion and degradation of environmental resources. High population growth and density in rural areas increases pressure on the available arable land resulting to fragmentation and encroachment into marginal lands, reduced fallow periods, and methods of cultivation that lead to land degradation (Birungi, 2007). A

Figure 4.11 represents the changes in population density witnessed in the area between 1989 and 2009.

Figure 4.11: Changes in human population density in Lugari district between the years 1989 and 2009 (Source: KNBS, 2010)

As Nagdeve (2002) observed, population growth leads to expanding human settlements and increasing demand for food, fuel, and building materials. The unsustainable expansion of human needs leads to habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity. Loss of vegetation cover resulting from human impacts in Lugari district therefore has significant effects on habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity thus causing environmental degradation. An increased human population density in

Lugari district has also led to significant rising demand for energy for domestic consumption. The rising demand for energy consumption in the area have resulted to significant changes and reduction in both natural and plantation land cover thus leading to land degradation.

4.4 Socio-demographic/ economic characteristics of the Residents

During field survey and household data collection on land use in Lugari district, a total of 100 households were sampled in the entire district based on the Agro-

Ecological zones that determine the land use in the area. Males represented 59% while females formed 41% of the respondents. In terms of the age of the respondents,

73 majority of the people interviewed fall between 21 years old and 50 years old (Fig

4.12), giving a better representation of the population that has great impact on the environment as far as land use land cover change is concerned.

Figure 4.12: Bar charts showing the age of household respondents from Lugari district

With regard to education level of the respondents in Lugari district majority of the residents interviewed had attained basic education. From the sampled households,

2% percent of the respondents had not acquired any education, 33% had primary education, 46% had attained up to secondary school level education, 4% tertiary

74 education while only 15% percent of the respondents interviewed had achieved college/ university education as the highest level of education. As the figures then indicate, a significant percentage of the population in Lugari district have only attained basic education i.e. primary (33%) or secondary (46%). This very population relies mostly on the productivity of the land in the district for the source of livelihood. As literature indicates, illiteracy is one of the key causes of land degradation in the world. This kind of scenario poses a threat in the district as far as alternative means of livelihood are concerned, proper land management practices, and formulation and implementation of policies that deal with proper land management and sustainable farming practices.

Figure 4.13: Bar charts showing educational level of household respondents from Lugari district

In relation to the source of livelihood and economic activities, majority of the respondents are involved in farming i.e. land cultivation which stood at 63% while a very small percentage of respondents are employed in either business or wage employment. This then indicates that a huge population of the residents in Lugari

76 district rely on land as the primary source of income while only a small percentage of the residents have alternative sources of income other than farming.

Figure 4.14: Bar charts showing source of livelihood for households respondents

4.5 Discussions: Drivers of LULCC and Land Degradation in Lugari district

4.5.1 Agricultural activities

On the classified images in figures 4.1 and 4.2, one notices an increase in area under cultivation which corresponds with decreases in areas of land under vegetation cover.

Agriculture can then be attributed to be responsible for most of the land use land

77 cover change that has occurred in Lugari district over the years. Agriculture is the predominant land use activity in the district and this situation is similar to what

Henao and Baanante (2006) discussed in their report that agriculture accounts for more than 25% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of most African countries, and is the main source of income and employment for at least 65% of Africa’s population. Agriculture in Lugari district is characterized by both small-scale mixed and large scale farming, which includes subsistence and cash crops. Average land holdings are approximately small for most farmers/ households that are involved in crop production. Agriculture is responsible for most of the land use/ land cover changes that have occurred in the most parts of Lugari district. Similar results were reported in the DDPLD (2008-2012) which tabulates different sectors in the district and how they contribute to household income. Agriculture for crop production was ranked the highest at 84% followed by wage employment at 9.5%, rural self- employment at 4% and urban self-employment at 2.5%. As evidenced by the statistical figures, increasing pressures on agricultural land in Lugari district have resulted in much higher nutrient outflows from the land and the subsequent breakdown of many traditional soil-fertility management practices such as long periods of fallowing and incorporation of the crop residues into the soil.

According to Muchena et al (2005), farm sizes especially in the high potential areas like Matete Division in Lugari district normally get reduced to the point where adequate living can only be obtained if land is farmed intensively and if there is alternative sources of income or off-farm income, without which soil regeneration through long periods of fallowing cannot be maintained. Bationo et al (2006) reported that 24% of total land degradation in the rural areas of Nigeria is as a result

78 of unsustainable agricultural activities. Other major causes of land degradation according to them included overgrazing (49%), deforestation (14%), and overexploitation of vegetative cover (13%) that constitutes the primary causes of land degradation in most rural areas of Africa. Soil fertility depletion and nutrient mining in most of the smallholder farms in Lugari district is a fundamental biophysical root cause of the declining per capita food production in the area. This has largely contributed to poverty and food insecurity in the district.

In the same line, Maitima et al (2009) found out that soils in areas with continuous cultivation like Lugari district without appropriate management practices have low fertility levels due to over utilization. In Lugari district, there have been changes in land use/ land cover that are associated with the expansion and intensification of agricultural activities to increase yield to marginal lands like forests, wetlands, and bushlands that were known to harbor important biodiversity in the area. All these changes in land use and land cover have a significant impact on soil chemical and physical degradation. Extensification of agriculture into the marginal and poor quality lands in Lugari district has reached upper limits, and most of the farmers do intensify land use to meet increasing food and other products without any proper land management practices and with little or no external inputs into the soil to improve the quality of the land.

The total arable land according to the records in Lugari district agricultural office is

48,400 hectares whereas land under crops in the year 2008 was 49,192.9 ha and in

2007 were 53, 803ha which therefore can be deduced to mean that the additional land under crops was in marginal areas such as wetlands, hill tops and slopes and river banks. This subsequently contributes significantly to a rapid change in land use and

79 reduced land cover hence causing land degradation in the area. Diagana (2003) reported that high population and migration in response to the shortage of land resources are important factors contributing to the degradation of agricultural land in

SSA. As the population in Lugari district continues to grow steadily over the years, increasing need for more food, water and fuel wood also increase at the expense of the environment and more especially the land resources. Maitima et al (2009) reported that in many areas across East Africa, land conversion from forest to agriculture has outpaced the proportional human population growth in recent decades. Natural vegetation cover has given way not only to crop land, but also to native or planted pasture that is used to subsidize the natural vegetation due to increased number of livestock and human population.

Majority of the selected households during the survey were small land size owners ranging between 1 to 5 acres. Most of these households are actively involved in farming activities and animal production on these small plots of land that cannot fully support the needs of the entire household. As a result, they resorted to intensify farming and seek for alternative means of feeding livestock and providing water to them. Increasing pressures on agricultural land have resulted in much higher nutrient outflows and the subsequent breakdown of many traditional soil-fertility maintenance strategies such as fallowing in the study area. Farm sizes in Lugari district have also been reduced to the point where adequate living can only be obtained if land is cultivated intensively and continuously especially in households that lack any other alternative sources of livelihood (Sanchez et al, 1997; Muchena et al, 2005). Figure 4.15 displays the information on the average size of the land owned by the larger population of the district under study.

Figure 4.15: Bar charts to show the size of land owned by households in Lugari district in the year 2011

4.5.2 Livestock keeping and Overgrazing

Livestock rearing, an especially cattle is an important rural activity in many parts of the world. Lugari district has a high potential for livestock production activities and the estimated cattle population is not known although records and evidence show that the district has very high number livestock. The main livestock kept are: cattle, sheep, poultry, goats, pigs and bee keeping. Emerging livestock kept in the district include geese and turkeys. All divisions are engaged in the same livestock activities.

Major livestock products are milk, eggs, honey, meat, hides and skins (R.O.K.,

2010). Most people bordering the forest reserve cultivate all their land and depend on the forest for all their grazing needs. Goats have hampered the re-afforestation program in gazzetted land and on-farm forestry due to their browsing habits. Gullies

81 have been forming along the paths used by livestock in the forest, contributing to massive soil erosion more so because of the steep topography. Grazing of this huge number of livestock far beyond the carrying capacity in forest lands exerts tremendous pressure on forestland with resultant degradation.

Farmers are keeping more livestock than the carrying capacity of the land that they possess. This therefore predisposes the animals not only to forage on grass but also on the vegetation as well leaving the ground bare and susceptible to the agents of soil erosion thus leading to land degradation in Lugari district. The bare ground also exposes the soil particles to hot sun during the dry period that dries the soil hence causing the soil to suffer from wind erosion that takes away the fertile top soil.

During rainy seasons, the soil suffers from sheet, rill and gulley erosion and losses nutrients through leaching and soil erosion. Too many animals in the district also brings about compaction of soil thus decreases the rainfall infiltration rate and increases surface run offs which further increases soil erosion and land degradation in the study area. The farmers are also forced to move around with their animals in search of pasture and water i.e. some farmers graze their livestock on the roadsides while others sneak them for grazing in gazzetted forest areas as evidenced by the picture below. Movements of animals from one point to another in this district are an issue that is causing land degradation trend to remain steady. Maitima et al (2005) explained that soil erosion is a common phenomenon in the intensively grazed areas and this is linked to the continuous grazing without incorporating appropriate soil and pasture management practices.

Where livestock densities are high, overgrazing readily occurs. Removal of protective vegetation and trampling of exposed soils by livestock hooves lead to decline in biological productivity of the land, reduced water infiltration and storage,

82 and soil compaction and erosion(UNDP & GEF, 2009). In most parts of Lugari district, free-range, migratory grazing is the most common form of practice as it is far less labor-intensive and cheap. Consequently, some of the pastures and forest lands, especially in the three gazzetted forest lands are subjected to grazing throughout the year by large herds of cattle, sheep and goats allowing very little time for recuperation and regeneration of grazed areas thus causing land degradation and land cover reduction.

Most people bordering the forest reserve cultivate all their land and depend on the forest for all their grazing needs. Gullies have been forming along the paths used by livestock in the forest, contributing to massive soil erosion more thus causing land degradation in the district. Maitima et al (2009) found out similar results and reported that overgrazing increases the bulk density and moisture content of the soil through compaction and exposure of the soil to the sun, but reduces most soil nutrients through feeding and subsequent erosion due to the reduced ground cover. A steady reduction in ground/ land cover as is the case being witnessed in Lugari district is a major driver of land degradation in Kenya and around the globe as well.

Overstocking and overgrazing is also known to be the single most serious threat to biodiversity sustainability and conservation around the whole world and more especially in the dry rangelands (FAO, Undated). In the ASALs for instance, overgrazing is claimed to have reduced the productivity of desert range-lands and threatens extreme desertification in some places, while in the mountains it has in some areas destroyed or retarded woody plant growth and reduced the stability of slopes, bringing erosion, dangerous mud slides and reduced capacity for water retention. The active exploitation of biological habitats for decades has already

83 exhausted the reproductive capacity of nature as well as causing a significant reduction of species and massive land degradation (Rosales and Livinets, Undated).

Plate 4.3: Overstocking and poor roadside drainage causing soil erosion and degradation of land in Lugari district

4.5.3 Overexploitation of vegetation

Firewood was noted and recorded as the main source of domestic fuel for the most households in the entire Lugari district during the field surveys. Forest plantations that form the major part of forest in the district were noted for their valuable forest products like timber, poles, building materials, and source of fuel for the many residents in the area. One other common practice that requires fuel wood that was noted in Sinoko and Nzoia Locations is brick making. Brick making as an emerging industry in the area requires large quantities of wood fuel than what most domestic households would need. This practice is widely carried out by a youthful generation

(school drop- outs) without any stable source of income. As a consequence, large

84 amounts of firewood required in brick production come from the declining vegetation cover in the district thus causing degradation.

Trees or vegetation cover on land play important role in landscape conservation and management. For instance, vegetation cover protects the soil by preventing the direct impact of weather elements as rainfall, temperature and wind (Oluwole and

Sikhalazo, 2008). A reduction in tree/ vegetation cover as a result of tree cutting/ deforestation accelerates the rate of soil erosion through water and wind and increases the chances of surface run-offs thus leading to land degradation.

Muchena et al (2005) report that loss of vegetation cover is seen as one of the major causes of land degradation in SSA. For the case of East Africa, due to increasing poverty, most of the rural poor households depend on fuel wood as they do not have enough cash to obtain alternative sources of fuel. Kenya is said to harbor 72% rural households that consume fuel wood that is obtained by cutting down trees. This scenario is similar to the results that were obtained from Lugari district which fall among the rural category. With an average rural population of about 90%, tree cutting or rather deforestation in the district is common as a result of encroachment for settlement, high demand for wood fuel and timber for building and sale. A report from the District Agricultural Office Lugari (2010) stated that there is a critical challenge on how to deal with illegal encroachment on the protected areas, and potential for forest excisions to give room for human settlements and urban development, as the population increases. The household survey results showed that

84% out of the total number of sampled households rely on fuel wood as the major form and source of domestic fuel/ energy. Similar findings had already been recorded in the District Development Plan for Lugari district 2008-2012 which reported that

83.9% of the total households in the entire district rely on fuel wood as the major

85 source of domestic fuel, thus posing a serious threat to vegetation and forest sustainability in the district. Overexploitation of vegetation cover in Lugari district therefore leads to land degradation in a number of ways: loss of vegetation cover normally leads to the decrease of the water storage capacity of the soil and vegetation thus accelerating the rate of degradation. It also leads to the decrease in the soil moisture content that affects the productivity of the land. Loss of vegetation also causes a decline in the rate of water infiltration into the soil resulting to increased surface runoffs, slower plant growth and increased rates of water erosion that leads to reduced soil fertility.

4.5.4 Deforestation and Tree Harvesting

Deforestation in Lugari district has mostly occurred in the riverine vegetation and the clearance of shrub lands due to expansion of agriculture, encroachment for settlements and development activities. Riverine vegetation and shrub lands in this area are the main natural forms of land cover that harbor important biodiversity. This has also led to degradation of rivers, watersheds or water catchments through river bank cultivation, illegal logging, and soil harvesting in these areas that are associated with destruction of vegetation. Encroachment for settlement and cultivation in marginal areas continues in hilly regions of the district that are dominated by natural vegetation thus important biodiversity areas e.g. Manyonyi Hills, Mautuma Hills, and

Mawe Tatu. On average, approximately 7 hectares of land under riverine vegetation and 13.1 hectares of land under shrubs were destroyed annually between 1973 and

1988, a period of fifteen years. This rate would tremendously change in only seven years between 2003 and 2010 with forest plantations disappearing at the rate of 205.4 hectares per year, riverine vegetation at the rate of 85.7 hectares per year and shrub

86 lands disappearing at the rate of 22.9 hectares per year. Deforestation and other forms of loss of vegetation continue, loss of agricultural land will increase leading to poor agricultural yields. Loss of vegetation also continues to accelerate soil erosion and watershed destruction. This is also responsible for destruction of habitats and genetic diversity found in the area thus leading to more environmental degradation.

A reduction in vegetation cover as well reduces the capacity of the soil to retain moisture for plant productivity which is a direct link of how biodiversity loss leads to land degradation (Maitima et al, 2005).

Lugari district also has traces of bushlands mainly found on the hills and ridges which are located throughout the district. These areas are characterized by thick natural vegetation covers that are very distinct from the high forests and grasslands.

These resources occur in areas such as Maturu, Manyonyi, and Mautuma hills among others in the district. These forests are threatened by degradation due to encroachment for settlement and cultivation, by extension of boundaries by the neighboring communities, overgrazing, deforestation and burning.

Plate 4.4: Vegetation clearing and charcoal burning causing land degradation in Lugari district

4. 6 Linkages between LULCC and land degradation

Correlations are a branch of inferential statistics that seek to explore the strength of association between the dependent and independent variable. However correlations only give us the numerical value of the strength of this association whereby X has on

Y. The study carried out a correlation to investigate the association between different land use practices responsible for land conversion and the existing land conservation measures. Table 9 highlights the findings that were generated from the computer software to show the relationship strengths.

Table 4.6: Correlation Matrix between Land Use Land Cover Change and Land Degradation in Lugari district

Land Size cultivation construction grazing agro forestry Fallow forest land Plantation

Land Size 1

Cultivation -.370** 1

Construction -.167 .228 1

Grazing -.354** .333 .129 1

Agro forestry -.300** .137 .105 .213* 1

Fallow land -.037 .048 .037 .035 -.122 1

Forest -.190 .100 -.088 .058 .335** -.089 1 Plantation

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

The output shows that land cultivation is negatively related to land size with a

Pearson correlation coefficient of r = -.370 at significance level of p < 0.01. This then signifies that the impact of cultivation on the land in the area would reduce by 37% if the land size under cultivation is increased. The output also shows a negative relationship between grazing and land size with a Pearson correlation coefficient of r = .354 and the relationship is significant at 0.01 level of confidence. This level of significance indicates that the impact of grazing activities on the land will reduce with a larger land size. The correlation output also gives a negative relationship between agro forestry and land size with a Pearson correlation coefficient of r = .300, which is a significant relationship at the confidence level of 0.01. At the same time, agro forestry is as well positively correlated to grazing with a Pearson correlation coefficient of .213 and it is significant at p < 0.05 confidence level. A positive relationship between agro forestry and grazing indicates that adopting agro forestry as a land conservation and management measure in the area would make it possible to increase the land for grazing of animals because intensified cultivation would definitely reduce. Lastly, the output indicates a positive, significant, linear relationship between forest plantation and agro forestry practices in the area with a

Pearson correlation coefficient of r = .335 at p < 0.01 level of confidence. This positive relationship between the two variables would signify that the households in

Lugari district engaged in forest plantation or on-farm tree planting are more likely to adopt agro-forestry practices as additional methods of land conservation and management and vice versa.

The study also undertook a regression analysis of the linkage between LULCC and land degradation so as to determine the influence of the independent variables on the dependent variable. Regression analysis allows us to be able to make predictions of

91 relationships between variables. Table 10 highlights the results generated from the analysis.

Table 4.7: Linear Regression Coefficients for LULCC and Land Degradation in Lugari district

Unstandardized Standardized t Sig. 95% Confidence Coefficients Coefficients Interval for B

Model B Std. Beta Lower Upper Error Bound Bound

(Constant) 6.027 1.143 5.272 0.000 3.755 8.299 (a) Cultivation -0.890 0.368 -0.242 -2.417 0.018 -1.622 -0.158 (b) Construction -0.438 0.468 -0.093 -0.935 0.352 -1.368 0.493 (c) Grazing -0.359 0.175 -0.207 -2.047 0.044 -0.707 -0.010 (d) Fallow land -0.060 0.430 -0.015 -0.140 0.889 -0.916 0.795 (e) Agro -0.368 0.192 -0.198 -1.917 0.059 -0.750 0.014 forestry (g) Forest plantation -0.225 0.234 -0.100 -0.963 0.338 -0.691 0.240

This is a way of predicting some kind of outcome from one or more predictor variables. The β- values tell us about the relationship between land degradation and each predictor variable (land use and land management practices). From the table, a negative relationship has been generated for the model with Land degradation as the independent variable and Land use activities and management as the predictor variables for the model. Only livestock grazing and land cultivation show a significant relationship. Regression analysis assumes that the relationship between variables is linear. It is a statistical procedure that measures the relative impact of

92 each independent variable on the dependent and is useful in forecasting. The multiple regression formula that best describes the relationship between the variables is

Land Degradation = β0 + β1 Cultivation + β2Grazing + €

Land degradation= 6.027+ -.890+ -.359 + €

Cultivation (β = -.890). This value indicates a negative relationship between land degradation and cultivation as a predictor variable. Therefore, as cultivation of land reduces, land degradation will definitely reduce. Grazing (β = -.359) also depicts a negative relationship meaning that reducing the number of livestock grazing on the land in the area will see a reduction in the rate of land use land cover change and land degradation when other factors that contribute or lead to land degradation are held constant. A higher absolute value of Beta reflects a significant effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable whereby the equation indicates that there is uni-directional relationship between LULCC and land degradation which is characterized for relatively lower values. At confidence level of 95% or p ≤ 0.05, grazing and cultivation are both significant. Small values for confidence level imply that it would be very unlikely for us to obtain a value of the test statistic such as the one we would observe if the research hypothesis actually were false. The lesser values of confidence level (p ≤ 0.05) from the table output of linear regression, i.e., cultivation (p ≤ .018) and grazing (p ≤ .044) indicate that the sample results correspond to the research hypothesis, high population density and increased human activities in Lugari district are significantly related to land degradation, and therefore the hypothesis is accepted.

From the regression table, the t-test associated with the β- values for land cultivation and livestock grazing are significant because both have values that are less than .05

93 level of significance. This therefore means that land cultivation and grazing of livestock in Lugari district (two major land use forms) as predictor variables are making a significant contribution to the model. From the model, cultivation, [t (-

2.417) = .018, p < .05] and livestock grazing [t (-2.047) = .044, p < .05]. From the magnitude of the t- statistics, we can see that both cultivation and grazing have a similar impact on the land in the area of study. As a matter of fact, these results corroborates the outcome of the GIS maps, and the findings in the DDP that land cultivation and livestock grazing due to overstocking are the major contributors to land degradation in Lugari district.

4.7 Land Management Measures

4.7.1 Forest Plantations/ Reforestation

Forest plantations were established in the district to increase land cover, meet the demands for building material and timber, and to provide a source of income for large-scale tree farmers. The KFS and KEFRI are playing an important role in both afforestation and reforestation efforts in Lugari district through their extension programs. The main emphasis is on farm forestry that aims to reduce pressure on the gazzetted forests and other tree cover found in the district e.g. riverine vegetation for wood, construction materials and medicinal herbs. KEFRI for instance conducts research on soils and trees species that can well adopt in the region, and KFS takes the role of establishment, management, and conservation of the existing gazzetted forests and also formulates laws and regulations to protect forest ecosystems human influence in the district. KFS and KEFRI have also encouraged the residents of the area to venture into commercial forestry practices on their individual farms. To achieve this goal, KFS in collaboration with KEFRI supply adequate exotic and

94 indigenous tree seedlings to the farmers to encourage them to establish woodlots on their individual farms in order to minimize the existing pressure on forest resources and other land covers presently available in the district. For instance, KFS officers reported that approximately 700,000 tree seedlings are produced annually in Lugari out which about 99% are planted by in the gazzetted forests, and the remaining 1% is given out the residents who wish to establish farm forestry or woodlots on the private lands. On average, it was indicated that about 500 ha of gazzetted forest land is reforested annually by KFS in collaboration with the resident groups.

Other than that, KFS undertakes the measures of rehabilitating degraded sites in the forests and protecting the existing water sheds that are important for protection and conservation of biodiversity. KFS in the area is also taking measures to curb illegal activities that threaten the sustainability of the existing land cover and natural resources. For instance, logging, charcoal production, transportation and sale have been declared illegal in the district. Logging on individual woodlots is only permissible with a license from the Kenya Forest Service.

During the field surveys, officers from the KFS and KEFRI reported that one of the measures that have been put in place to protect the forests is a total ban on grazing in forest lands, logging on gazzetted forests, and shamba systems. Some of these measures may be only documented in records, but there looms a challenge when it comes to their effective implementation. For instance, grazing in forest lands is still a big challenge for effective management, conservation and sustainability of the forests and other fragile ecosystems in Lugari district, as it is evidenced in the picture below.

Plate 4.5: Livestock grazing in gazzetted forest land in Turbo Forest, Lugari district

The Forest service also promotes forest extension services with the local community in the district. This is aims to achieve sustainable use of the forest resources at farm level through awareness creation, education and tree nursery establishment among other forest activities. This is achieved through support of community action plans which are drawn to address specific environmental concern while reaping commercial benefits from the trees which are either extractive or non extractive

(DDP, 2010). The tree seedlings raised are also sold to boost incomes at household or community level. This helps to reduce pressure on subsistence agriculture which forms the main source of livelihood for many households in the district.

4.7.2 Agro-forestry Practices

Vi Agro-forestry is a Swedish based Non-governmental Organization with field operations in different parts of Western Kenya. VI Agro-forestry currently has some

96 of its operations in Lugari district and mostly in the maize growing zone of the district. The aim of the organization is to increase the number of trees and improve the situation for small-scale farmers in the entire Western Kenya region. The organization works with spreading knowledge about agro-forestry and diversified farming systems that are adapted to the market situation. The capacity building is done through employing field advisors connected to local farmers’ organizations. VI

Agro-forestry together with the local farmers in Lugari district tends to give a large diversity of products on the farm by incorporating this technology in the farming systems of the district. According to Lwakuba et al (2003) practicing a more diverse system like agro-forestry can lead to improved productivity of the land and also provide opportunities to farmers to sell some excessive farm products and obtain extra income. Proper incorporation and expansion of this project in Lugari district is likely to improve the situation in most of the resource-poor households in the region, where most of the production is for domestic use, have little or no savings and thus limited opportunities to spend money on farm inputs, restricting the resources available for crop production and any proper land management and conservation measures.

4.8.2 Sustainable water resource management

A part from the management and protection of the gazzetted forest lands, the KFS plays a vital role in the management of water catchments through planting and protecting of trees within the district. This is also achieved through the forest extension services within the community. This is aims to achieve sustainable use of the forest resources at farm level through awareness creation, education and tree nursery establishment among other forest activities (DDP, 2010). This is achieved through support of community action plans which are drawn to address specific

97 environmental concerns while reaping commercial benefits from the trees). The tree seedlings raised are also sold to boost incomes at household or community level.

However, there still exists a big challenge as far as sustainable management of water resources is concerned in Lugari district. The district livestock numbers are high thus accelerating the rate of soil erosion in the district. This may lead to siltation and eventual disappearance of the numerous natural dams and other significant wetlands in the district. Encroachment for either agricultural expansion or settlement is another key challenge to sustainability of water resources in the district. Most of the riverine vegetation has been cleared for expansion of agriculture and settlements in the sugarcane zones, and the upper region of the district, thus leading to a major challenge to conservation measures and the sustainability of the water resources and catchments throughout the district.

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusions

Lugari district has experienced significant changes in land use and land cover reduction between 1973 and 2010 emanating from a rising human population thus causing land degradation. The greatest changes occurred between 2003 and 2010 in most parts of the district. The major cause of the changes in land use and land cover was human activities which saw the following changes take place: between 1973 and

1988 the area of land under forest plantation slightly increased by 1.56%, open forest increased by about 8.1%, rainfed agriculture increased by 0.63%, riverine vegetation reduced by 5.57%, shrublands land reduced by 8.68%, sugarcane plantation increased by 5.33%, and wetlands reduced by 19.14%. The period between 2003 and

2010 registered the following significant changes in only seven years: forest plantation reduced by 23.11%, open forest increased by 29.98%, rainfed agriculture increased by 0.91%, riverine vegetation reduced by 33.13%, shrubland reduced by

8.79%, sugarcane plantation increased by 10.00%, and wetlands reduced by 24.76%.

Land cultivation and livestock grazing are the major contributing factors to land degradation in the district. At confidence level of 95% or P ≤ 0.05 both cultivation and livestock grazing had significant values as follows: cultivation (P = .018) and livestock grazing (P = .04). The area has also experienced a rapid growth in population density over time. For instance, population density was 206, 321, and 440 persons per square kilometer in 1989, 1999, and 2009 respectively. The growing trends of population and the consequent demand for food, energy, and housing in the area have considerably altered land use practices, reduced both plantation and natural land covers and severely caused land.

5.2 Recommendations

The following measures need to be undertaken by the Government of Kenya in collaboration with the development partners, interested parties, and the local residents of Lugari district, for proper management, conservation, and sustainable land use practices in the area.

 Efforts should be made for educating the residents in Lugari district and their

local leaders about the adverse effects of large population on the environment

through specially designed Information, Education and Communication

activities.

 Afforestation, reforestation, and social forestry programs should be

implemented at the local levels in the area so as protect land cover and to

preserve the existing forests and vegetation in the area.

 There is need also to carry out the carrying capacity studies of the land in

Lugari district then introduce a taxation scheme that will discourage the

residents in this area from rearing of livestock in excess of the carrying

capacity.

 The GOK must demonstrate the benefits of agro-forestry to the farmers so

they can participate effectively throughout the entire district to assist in

reducing the pressure on available land and vegetation resources in the

district.

 The GOK in partnership with other stakeholders need to demonstrate the

benefits and affordability of alternative sources of energy like solar in

medium and long-term and promote the growing of fast maturing tree species

for sustainable charcoal production.

100

5.2.1 Areas for further research

This research study goes further to recommend some areas for further research whose findings would be significant for proper land use practices in Lugari district:

 There is need for further research work in Lugari district to assess the

livestock carrying capacity.

 There is need to investigate alternative sources of fuel (energy) needs for

sustainable land management in Lugari district.

101

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Field points captured with a GPS

X Y LULC

Area dominated by farmlands both large scale and small 35.07030 0.72049 scale with settlements and on farm tree plantations.

Thicket forming the edge of former forested land. Short vegetation with tall grasses mostly forming the land 35.05608 0.73999 cover. Sample plot was under the Pellis system

Area presently stands on a cleared forest/ shrub land. Sample plot covered with grasses, Lantana camara, and 35.03947 0.74001 Datura spp.

Thicket and bushes mixed with grasses characterize the 35.03272 0.73122 entire area

An area marking the transition point between a cleared forest/ thicket and farmlands. The sample plot was a 35.01412 0.72959 cleared thicket that is currently used as a grazing field.

A transition point between thicket and a forested land. Sample plot was an open field with grasses, and some 35.04160 0.72614 scattered species of acacia

35.04176 0.72256 Forested land with almost 100% tree cover on land

Transitional point between the forested land and the farmlands adjacent to the forest. Sample plot was a 35.05000 0.71920 cultivated land with scattered acacia spp

Area of cleared forest now under farmlands. This area also marks the transition point between farmlands and 35.08583 0.67618 forested lands. The sampled plot was under cultivation

Area under re-afforestation program. Sampled plot covered with eucalyptus trees, Lantana camara, and short 35.08932 0.67877 grasses as the dominant land cover.

A cleared forest land bordering a wetland. Sampled plot consisted of a wetland covered with papyrus reeds and 35.09808 0.68184 short grasses.

35.09793 0.68410 Forest plantation bordering an area with swampy/wetland

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characteristics. Sample plot of forest plantation with Cupressus spp with traces of Lantana camara and short grasses

Transitional point between a wetland and farmlands with 35.10065 0.67856 settlements. Cultivated lands formed the sample plot

Open area/ field between forest plantations consisting of scattered acacia trees, short grasses, and lantana camara. Sample plot was an open field with short grasses as the 35.08510 0.68916 dominant land cover

Area of forest plantation characterized by Pellis system( forest plantation mixed with shamba system). Pinus spp 35.07444 0.68685 with short grasses forms the major land cover.

A wetland area between forest plantation lands. Sample 35.04820 0.68959 plot consisted of a wetland covered with papyrus reeds

Agricultural land/ farmlands surrounded by settlements with traces of on farm tree plantations. Sample plot was a 34.97607 0.69352 cultivated land

Agricultural land with settlements as the major land use. Small scale cultivation dominant. Sample plot a cultivated 34.95227 0.66317 land

An area with characteristics of a wetland. Sample plot 35.09756 0.86229 was cultivated farm land with adjacent settlements

Farmlands with settlements and sample plot taken from 35.07307 0.88643 the cultivated land

Farmlands with cultivated lands and settlements forming 35.05199 0.88796 the major land use. On farm tree plantations also noted

Area occupied by large scale farmlands with scattered settlements. On farm tree plantation also noted as a common form of land cover. Sample plot was cultivated 35.05610 0.84203 land

Farmlands with settlements and on farm trees. Sample 34.83316 0.57182 plot taken from a sugarcane plantation

Farmlands with settlements adjacent to riverine vegetation. Small scale sugarcane plantation major form 34.85877 0.58795 of land use and land cover

110

Farmlands dominated by small scale sugarcane farming with settlements. Sample plot a sugarcane farm 34.84655 0.59170 encroaching riverine forest/ vegetation

34.85506 0.56935 Farmlands with sugarcane plantation and settlements

An urban centre forming the District Administrative Headquarters. Point taken from a high elevation point of 34.97396 0.63047 rock granite.

Appendix 2: Lugari district Population Maps of 1989 and 2009

111

Appendix 3: Population Projection by Age Cohorts in Lugari district between the years 2008-2012 (KNBS, 2008 Lugari district)

112

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Appendix 4: Household questionnaire

IMPACT OF HUMAN POPULATION ON LAND DEGRADATION IN LUGARI DISTRICT, WESTERN PROVINCE, KENYA

Dear sir/ madam,

This questionnaire has been designed as part of an academic study to investigate the impact of human population activities on land degradation in Lugari district, Kenya. In particular, the questionnaire attempts to gather information on human activities within the larger Lugari district, and how these activities are related to land degradation and land management practices.

You have been selected to participate in this study, and your contribution is important. Kindly answer each of the questions to the best of your ability. You are hereby assured that the information provided will be treated with confidentiality and be applied for academic purposes only. Be assured as well that any images or photographs captured and obtained during this field work are only to serve none other than academic purposes.

Thank you

Raphael Wanjala Wanyonyi

Department of Environmental Sciences

School of Environmental Studies

Kenyatta University, Nairobi

Research student

Email: [email protected]

SECTION I: HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC INFORMATION

1. Kindly tick as appropriate in the tables below: a) Gender of the respondent

Gender 1. Male 2. Female

b) Age of the respondent Coding Age bracket Please tick (√ )

1. Less than 20

114

2. 21-30

3. 31-40

4. 41-50

5. 51-60

6. Above 60

c) Educational level of the household head/ respondent

Coding Educational level Please tick (√ )

1. None

2. Primary

3. Secondary

4. Vocational/technical

5. College/ university

6. Other.

d) Area of permanent residence

Coding Area Please name as appropriate

1. District

2. Division

3. Location

4. Sublocation/village

e) Family position of the respondent

Codes Household position Please tick as appropriate

1. Household head

2. Spouse of the household head

3. Grown up child

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4. Relative

5. Other. Please specify

f) Gender of the house hold head

Code Gender Please tick

1. Male

2. Female

g) What is the current occupation/ livelihood of the household head?

Codes Occupation/livelihood Please tick

1. Employed

2. Farming

3. Business

4. Others. Please specify

h) Please fill in the table to show the composition of the household members.

Household members Total number

1. Wife (wives)

2. Boys/ males

3. Girls/ females

i) Please indicate the level of education and current occupation/ livelihood for the household members.

Household members Level of education Current occupation/ livelihood

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SECTION II: LAND USE ACTIVITIES AND LAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES WITHIN THE LARGER LUGARI DISTRICT

2. Do you own the land you currently occupy? ______

3. What is the estimated size of the land that you own/ occupy? Please tick in the table as appropriate.

Codes Land size Please tick

1. No land

2. Less than once acre

3. 1-5 acres

4. 5-10 acres

5. Above 10 acres

4. What type of land do you own?

Codes Land type Please tick

1. Flat land

2. Gentle sloping

3. Sloping land

4. Rocky land

5. Stony and shallow soils

6. Others. Please specify

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5. Do you use the land for the following activities? If yes please indicate the estimate size of the land under each type of land use activity in the table below.

Land use activity Yes No Estimate land size

a) Cultivation

b) Construction/ homestead

c) Livestock grazing

d) Fallow land

e) Agro forestry

f) Fish farm

g) Plantation forest

h) Water reservoir

i) Others. Please specify

6. What source of / which form of energy do you use for cooking and other household chores. Please tick in the table below as appropriate.

Codes Energy source Please tick

1. Firewood

2. Charcoal

3. Paraffin/kerosene

4. Biogas

5. LPG( liquefied petroleum gas)

6. Electricity

7. Solar

Others. Please specify

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7. Name the crops you grow in your cultivated piece of land and indicate in the table below whether they are grown for food or cash. Please also indicate the approximate output of each crop per year (In bags or Kilos). Name of crop Food Cash Approximate output(in bags/kilos per year)

8. What crop residues do you obtain from the farm/ cultivated land? Please indicate how each crop residue is used or disposed of. Crop residue Uses/ disposal methods

9. Do you keep or rear any of the following livestock? If yes please indicate the number of each livestock, its source of fodder and water in the table below.

Livestock Yes/ No Total number Source of fodder Source of water

Cattle

Sheep

Goats

Pigs

Poultry

Donkeys

Others. Please specify

119

10. Do you undertake any of the following agricultural measures on your land? If yes please indicate with a tick and show how often this is done.

Agricultural measures Yes No Number of times/ details

a) Shifting cultivation

b) Crop rotation

c) Mulching

d) Applying chemical fertilizers

e) Applying organic manure

f) Incorporating crop residue in

g) Erosion control

h) Land leveling

i) Irrigating land

j) Others. Please specify

11. How many bags of chemical fertilizer do you add to the soil/ land during the planting and growing season? ______

12. Please tick in the table below the available type/ types of land management practices carried out in your area/ location/ sub-location etc.

Level of land management Please tick as appropriate

a) Individual level

b) Community level

c) Both individual and community

d) Others. Please specify

13. Any further comments, suggestions and ideas?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND COOPERATION

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Appendix 5: Research Budget from October 2010 to April 2011

ITEMS REQUIRED FOR DESCRIPTION AND AMOUNT IN US RESEARCH UNIT COST IN US $ $ Tuition fee for 2nd Academic year, 2010/2011 2 academic semesters 1950 Statistical software 1 @ US $ 115 115 Climatic Data( rainfall, wind and for the period 1989-2010 temperature) of study area 65 Flash Disc of 4GB 2@US $30 60

GIS AND REMOTE SENSING

Land sat images (1989-2010) 21 @ US $ 35 735

SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCE & TRAVEL

(i) Subsistence allowance for researcher 90 days @ US $ 20 1800 (ii) Allowance for field assistant 48 days @ US $ 10 480 2 people for 24 days @ (iii) Public transport within 3 months US $ 6 per day 144

STATIONERY, PRINTING AND BINDING

(i) Printing Papers 4 rims @ US $ 5 per rim 20 200 questionnaires @ US (ii) Photocopies $ 0.5 100 (iii) Copies of Photographs and Maps 15 plates @ US $ 3 45 (iv) Thesis Draft for Examination 7 copies @ US $ 10 70 (v) Final hard bound thesis copies for award of M.Sc 7 copies @ US $ 15 105

TOTAL AMOUNT REQUIRED FOR RESEARCH US $ 5,209

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Appendix 6: Processed Land sat images covering Area of study for the years 1973, 1988, 2003 and 2010

122

123

Appendix 7: Agro ecological zones of the tropics

124