Determinants of Tree Growing and Cover Retention in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas of East Africa: The Case of Machakos County, Kenya
Keywords:
Degradation, natural resources, livelihoods, tree cover, climate change
Abstract
Rapid human population growth, increased demand for land, over-exploitation and the degradation of local natural resources have led to serious socio-economic and environmental challenges in Machakos County, Kenya, East Africa. This has led to a drastic reduction in tree cover in arid and semi-arid areas over the years. To reverse this trend, it is important to understand the socio-economic factors that determine household tree growth and cover retention in Machakos County. Based on a structured questionnaire targeting 412 respondents (233 men and 179 women) as well as 2 focus group discussions and 14 key informants, we assessed the determinants of tree growing and cover retention among small scale farmer households using a logistic regression model. The study found that socioeconomic variables that significantly influenced tree growing and cover retention in Machakos County in Kenya included gender (p= 0.011), household size (p=0.030), Farm size (p= 0.005), and title deed ownership (p=0.023). The respondents used tree products to enhance their socio-economic resilience. In total, 58 different types of tree species were planted or retained on the farms. The major tree species included Eucalyptus saligna, Grevillea robusta, Mangifera indica, Persea americana, Croton megalocarpus, and Terminalia brownie. Based on our findings we recommend more involvement of women and youth in tree-growing activities in the Matungulu Sub-county.
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References
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2. Angelsen, A., Jagger, P., Babigumira, R., Belcher, B., Hogarth, N. J., Bauch, S., Börner, J., Smith-Hall, C. & Wunder, S. (2014). Environmental Income and Rural Livelihoods: A Global-Comparative Analysis. World Development, 64, (1), S12-S28.
3. De Leeuw, J., Njenga, M., Wagner, B. & Iiyama, M. (Eds.) (2014). Treesilience: An assessment of the resilience provided by trees in the drylands of Eastern Africa. World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya.
4. Deressa, T. T., Hassan, R. M., Ringler, C., Alemu, T. & Yesuf, M. (2009). Determinants of farmers’ choice of adaptation methods to climate change in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia. Global environmental change, 19(2), 248-255.
5. Ekanayake, E. M. B. P., Feng, M., Murindahabi, T., Nissanka, A. H. S. & Patrick, G. S. (2018). Contribution of Indian Gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica) to Household Economy in Sri Lanka: A Case Study from Udadumbara Divisional Secretariat. Small scale forestry, 17, (2), 277 – 292.
6. Etongo, D., Epule, T. E., Djenontin, I. N. S. & Kanninen, M. (2018). Land managementin rural Burkina Faso: the role of socio‐cultural and institutional factors. Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford, UK.
7. Guetterman, T. C., Fetters, M. D. & Creswell, J. W. (2015). Integrating quantitative and qualitative results in health science mixed methods research through joint displays. The Annals of Family Medicine, 13(6), 554-561.
8. Guo, G., Wen, Q. & Zhu, J. (2015). The impact of aging agricultural labor population on farmland output: from the perspective of farmer preferences. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 1, 1-7
9. Gyau, A., Franzel, S., Chiatoh, M., Nimino, G. & Owusu, K. (2014). Collective action to improve market access for smallholder producers of agroforestry products: key lessons learned with insights from Cameroon's experience. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 6, 68-72.
10. Hadi, A. L. A., Wahab, N. A. A., Noh, N. A. M., Razali, N. M., Yusop, N. M., Khairudin, Z. & Othman, R. (2018, June). Determinants of depression among tertiary level students: A logistic regression approach. In AIP Conference Proceedings (1974(1), 050007. AIP Publishing.
11. Insaidoo, T. F. G., Derkyl, M. & Acheampong, E. (2014). Farm level tree planting in Ghana: Potential for reducing vulnerability and mitigating climate change. JENRM.1, 19-28.
12. Kaakkurivaara, N. & Stampfer, K. (2018). Assessment for Improvement: Harvesting Operations in Small-Scale Forest on Thai Steep Terrain. Small scale forestry, 17(2), 277 – 292.
13. KNBS (2018) Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (2017/2018), Government Printer, Nairobi, Kenya.
14. Kiptot, E. & Franzel, S. (2011). Gender and Agroforestry in Africa: Are Women Participating. Occasional Paper, World Agroforestry Center, Nairobi, Kenya.
15. Kothari, C.R. (2004). Research Methodology Methods and Techniques. 2nd Edition, New Age International Publishers, New Delhi.
16. Kristjanson, P., Bryan, E., Bernier, Q., Twyman, J., Meinzen-Dick, R., Kieran, C. & Doss, C. (2017). Addressing gender in agricultural research for development in the face of a changing climate: where are we and where should we be going? International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 15(5), 482-500.
17. Lawin, K. G. & Tamini, L. D. (2018). Land Tenure Differences and Adoption of Agri-Environmental Practices: Evidence from Benin. The Journal of Development Studies, pp. 1-14.
18. Machakos County Government. (2015). Machakos County Integrated Development Plan. Machakos, Kenya.
19. Macneil, C., Brown, H. C. P. & Sonwa, D. J. (2017). Investigations of the Livelihood Strategies of Young Men and Women in Forested Landscapes of Eastern Cameroon. International Forestry Review 19(4): 437- 448.
20. Masuki, K. F. G., Kamugisha, R., Mowo, J. G., Tanui, J., Tukahirwa, J., Mogoi, J. & Adera, E. O. (2010). Role of mobile phones in improving communication and information delivery for agricultural development: Lessons from South Western Uganda. Workshop proceedings, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, pp. 22-23.
21. Mburu, B. K. (2013). Effects of climate variability and change on dry-land agriculture and the adaptation strategies by small-scale farmers in Yatta District, Kenya. PhD thesis, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.
22. Meijer, S. S., Catacutan, D., Ajayi, O. C., Sileshi, G. W. & Nieuwenhuis, M. (2015). The role of knowledge, attitudes and perceptions in the uptake of agricultural and agroforestry innovations among smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 13. Pages?
23. MENR (2006). Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources. Forest Department annual Report for Kangundo District. Unpublished Report.
24. Muriu-Ng’ang’a, F. W. (2017). Utilisation of selected rainwater harvesting and saving technologies for improved crop production in Tharaka South Sub-county, Kenya. Ph.D Thesis, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.
25. Nkamleu, G. B. & Manyong, V. M. (2005). Factors affecting the adoption of agroforestry practices by farmers in Cameroon. Small-scale forest economics, management and policy, 4(2), 135-148.
26. Permadi, D. B., Burton, M., Pandit, R., Race, D., Ma, C., Mendham, D. & Hardiyanto, E. B. (2018). Socio-economic factors affecting the rate of adoption of acacia plantations by smallholders in Indonesia. Land use policy, 76, 215-223.
27. Quandt, A., Neufeldt, H. & McCabe, J. T. (2018). Building livelihood resilience: what role does agroforestry play? Climate and Development. Volume, and pages? doi.org/10.1080/ 17565529.2018.1447903.
28. Shiferaw, S. T., Frédéric, B., Hae, K. & Giller, K. (2017). Climate-smart agroforestry: Faidherbia albida trees buffer wheat against climatic extremes in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 248, 339-347.
29. Shrestha, S., Shrestha, U. B. & Bawa, K. (2018). Socio-economic factors and
30. management regimes as drivers of tree cover change in Nepal. Peer J, 6, e4855.
31. Simotwo, H. K., Stella, M., Mikalitsa, S. M. & Wambua, B. N. (2018). Climate change adaptive capacity and smallholder farming in Trans-Mara East Sub-county, Kenya. Geoenvironmental Disasters 5:5.
32. Siraj, M., Zhang, K., Xiao, W., Bilal, A., Gemechu, S., Geda, K., Yonas, T. & Xiaodan, L. (2018). Does Participatory Forest Management Save the Remnant Forest in Ethiopia? In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences 88 (1), 1–14.
33. Singh, C. (2018). Adoption of Agroforestry Practices: Chi 2 Function Approach in Determining Influence of Individual and Social Factors on Farmers' Decision to Adopt or not to Adopt Agroforestry. Indian Forester, 144 (7), 646-652.
34. Survey of Kenya, (2018). Map of Machakos County and its position in Kenya. County Survey Office, Machakos, Government of Kenya.
35. Trinh, T. Q., Rañola, R. F., Camacho, L. D. & Simelton, E. (2018). Determinants of farmers’ adaptation to climate change in agricultural production in the central region of Vietnam. Land use policy, 70, 224-231.
36. Verkaart, S., Orr, A., Harris, D. & Claessens, L. (2017). Intensify or diversify? Agriculture as a pathway from poverty in eastern Kenya, Socioeconomics Discussion Paper Series, Series Paper Number 40 http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/9937.
37. Wambua, S., Birachi, E., Gichangi, A., Kavoi, J., Njuki, J., Mutua, M. & Karanja, D. (2018). Influence of productive resources on bean production in male-and female-headed households in selected bean corridors of Kenya. Agriculture & Food Security, 7(1), 85.
38. Wunder, S., Angelsen, A. & Belcher, B. (2014). Forests, Livelihoods, and Conservation: Broadening the Empirical Base. World Development, 64(1), S1-S11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.03.007.
39. Wyche, S., Simiyu, N. & Othieno, M. E. (2017). Understanding women’s mobile phone use in rural Kenya: An affordance-based approach. Mobile Media & Communication. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157918776684.
40. Zomer, R. J., Neufeldt, H., Xu, J. C., Ahrends, A., Bossio, D., Trabucco, A., van Noordwijk, M. & Wang, M. (2016). Global tree cover and biomass carbon on agricultural land: The contribution of agroforestry to global and national carbon budgets. http://www.worldagroforestry.otg/ publications/.
Published
2023-06-30
How to Cite
Mutuku, H. M., & Kiruki, H. M. (2023). Determinants of Tree Growing and Cover Retention in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas of East Africa: The Case of Machakos County, Kenya. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 19(18), 212. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2023.v19n18p212
Section
ESJ Natural/Life/Medical Sciences
Copyright (c) 2023 Heeran M. Mutuku, Harun M. Kiruki
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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