Knowledge System of Land Use Potential (KSLUP) for Food Security among Pastoralists: A Case Study for Wajir County
Lwevo, E.; Onyango, C. A.; Nyando, V. V; Bulle, A.; Digo, C. A.

Abstract
Wajir County is classified as rangeland with regard to its land use. Despite the fact that the County has a large land mass cover of 56,685.8 sq Km; little research has been done to determine its land use potential. The study focused on knowledge system of land use potential (KSLUP) in Wajir County. It employed cross-sectional survey design. The target population was 661,941persons belonging to 90,108 households out of which a sample 222 households was drawn. A questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the household heads. Collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and excel version 2010. Results from data analysis showed that majority of the respondents had more goats and sheep, a few had camels, local poultry, cattle, bee hives an at least a donkey. Livestock production was the main source of income, followed by crop production. Other source of income included sales from tree products (gums/resins) and building materials. Communal land ownership was dominant in the county with results indicating that most of the respondent who owned land had acquired through self-proclamation/declaration. There were several challenges facing land use in the county including land grabbing, human-wildlife conflict, environmental degradation and livestock diseases among others. To improve the present land use, there was need to build the capacities of the pastoralists on management of rangelands, train on gums and resins production, provision of agricultural subsidies, construction of boreholes/dams for irrigation, control of wildlife menace, livestock disease surveillance, control of unplanned settlements and environmental conservation. The study also proposed policies to be formulated by county government to improve land use.

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