PhD thesis Title Page Final _Richard Juma - Victoria University ...

I asked about the rains that had already come, they replied that those
were not the real rains which bring grass. I had to concur with Gulliver
when he reported that “Turkana say, with truth, that only about one year
in four or five has a ‘good wet season’, with rainfall well above the average
paucity” (Gulliver 1955: 23).
The predominant low mean annual rainfall, coupled with extremely high
variability, indicates a drought - stressed ecosystem. Seasonal dry periods
vary between six and nine months. Long-term data series suggests one to
three year droughts have occurred, accumulating to approximately 12
times during the past 80 years, with an average of one drought every six to
seven years (Turkana Drought Contigency Planning Unit 1992).
4.7 Demographic considerations.
The demographic structure of a given community is quite important in
understanding livelihood strategies of that particular society. The effect of
characteristics such as household size and composition on adaptive
options at household disposal has been documented widely in literature
(Adams 1992; Toulmin 1986). In this study, knowledge of population
dynamics is essential to understanding Turkana human ecology.
According to the 1999 population and housing census, the Turkana
District had a population of 450,860 persons in 1999. This population was
projected to increase to 497,779 persons in 2002 and to 606,774 persons
in 2008. Figure 7 provides the district population projections by sex. As
can be noted from Figure 7, the population has been increasing
dramatically, and this rapid growth rate is estimated at 3.3 per cent per
year (Republic of Kenya 2002:17). In absolute terms, the population of the
district is estimated to increase by about 22 per cent between 2002 and
2008 (Republic of Kenya 2002). The population density varies from 29
persons per Km² to the northern part of the Turkana District to one person
per km² to the south frontier of the district (Republic of Kenya 2002).
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