Baseline Report Yala and Nzoia River Basins
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Socio economic baseline data summary
Average household size is seven people with 86% of the households having 10 members or less. A few households have more than 14 members (8 homes). Average farm size is 15 acres; however, 50% of the households have farm sizes of 4 acres or less. More than 30% of the farms have farm sizes larger than 10 acres (Table 5.7). Table 5.7 Household size (N=160)
The majority of the households were male headed (88%), while the rest (12%) were female headed. No household was headed by orphans and only one household was polygamous.
Of the 160 households surveyed, 150 rear livestock. Table 5.8 lists the percentage of households with different species of livestock. No household in the study area had pigs and only one household had donkeys (2). Table 5.8. Livestock ownership in percentage (N=160)
1Local indicates local breed, 2HB indicates improved breed The source of fodder is mainly grasses (81%) and crop residue (69%). Average acreage used for crop residue production is 4 acres and livestock grazes on around 7 acres, on average. Few farmers leave their livestock to graze on communal (26 cases) and government land (13 cases). Artificial feed is a source of fodder for 56 households and 35 households also buy feed at the local market. However, 85% of the households are experiencing problems with their livestock. More than 58% of the households say they do not have adequate land for feedings their livestock and 48% experience problems with free-grazing livestock from neighbors, which corresponds well with the fact that 79% of the households practice free-grazing. The largest constraints at farm level are lack of income and the high prices for inputs (Table 5.9). Farmers also listed low soil fertility, flooding and farm size as major constraints. Low market price of products as well as poor access to markets are also rated high by farmers as constraints at farm level. Compared to the Middle and Lower blocks of the Yala River basin, major constraints at farm level are somehow different in this area. Here prices of inputs are rated very high as is access to good market for farm produce. Table 5.9. Major constrains at farm level listed by farmers
Soil erosion is being addressed by 93 of the households interviewed (58%) and the most common conservation measures are terraces (66 farms) and strips of grass and shrubs. Here the most common species are local grass species and Napier grass. Of the 66 farmers using terracing as a conservation measure, seven farmers have constructed ‘Fanya chini’ terraces. Nine farmers have established contour lines and three farmers are mulching with crop residue. Trash lines are used by three farmers, however, most farmers are saying their efforts are not effective during heavy rains mainly due to siltation. In addition to these measures, 44 farmers are also harvesting water, mainly from the roof, for domestic use. Hence there seems to be a need to assess the soil and water conservation measures and assist the farmers in selected better measures and integrating trees and legumes in the control of runoff water and soil erosion. This would simultaneously address the low soil fertility that many farmers are mentioning as one of the largest constraints at farm level. As for the Middle Yala block, the information collected from the two surveys on soil and water conservation is not consistent. Hence, there is a need to assess farmer and community perceptions of soil and water conservation.
The majority of the farmers are practicing agroforestry. More than 95% of the homesteads have trees which are protected (Table 5.10) and a similar number of farmers are interested in planting more trees, which corresponds well with the farmers’ response to practicing agroforestry. Only five farmers out of 160 are not interested in planting more trees, which is mainly due to land size (2 farmers), age (1 farmer), husband making such decisions (1 farmer) and land ownership(1 farmer). Approximately 20% of the farmers interviewed are planning to cut down trees on their farm. Three farmers from Tarakwa, Cheptiret and Tulwet sub-locations mentioned cultural practices as a hindrance to tree planting. Table 5.10. Tree species on-farm (N=160)
Reasons for growing trees include producing fuel wood and timber and to reduce the negative effects of wind. Few farmers use trees to produce fodder and address soil fertility. Therefore, the project should organize community training to raise awareness of opportunities offered by expanding the growing orof trees and production of other tree products to facilitate better integration of trees into the farming system. Using farmers’ answers to rank the importance of agroforestry products, the top 10 uses were:
The main sources of fuel for the faringfarming families in this block are wood and paraffin (Table 5.11). More than 85% of the households are not energy self sufficient, which might explain the high number of farmers interested in more tree planting as mentioned above. More than 95% of the interviewed farmers are interested in planting more trees. Table 5.11. Fuel use by source
The majority of the farmers interviewed have not received any training. Only 45 of the 160 farmers interviewed have received any type of training: 20 are members of a group and 25 are not members of a group. In this area in general, few farmers of members of groups. Only 58 farmers out of the 160 interviewed said yes to being members of a group. Therefore, there seems to be a need to assist the communities in establishing groups and to train these groups. From the socio economic survey the following groups were identified: Table 5.11. Community groups and main activities undertaken
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