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

The importance of livestock in the Turkana livelihood system cannot be
underestimated, and, over the years, there has been considerable growth
in the number of sheep and goat herds in the district. For instance,
between 1948 and 2002 (see Table 3), the number of sheep and goats
doubled. The impact of concentrating considerable stock numbers in a
largely arid area is not difficult to imagine. The risks to the ecology are
even more serious if we consider the fact that sheep and goats are said to
be more destructive to the vegetation than the other animals.
Table 3: Livestock numbers in the Turkana District, 1948 and 2002.
1948
2002 % Increase % Decrease
Cattle 200,000 176,000 - 88
Sheep and
goats
800,000 2,439,000 204.9
Donkeys 96,000 32,000 - 33.3
Source: Republic of Kenya (2002:9-10) and (Gulliver 1951:7).
It is also interesting to consider that in spite of the remarkable increase in
sheep and goats, Turkana pastoralism remains stagnant in the sense that
the majority of the people are poor (Republic of Kenya 2002:8). Stock
numbers have increased in absolute numbers but the size of the family
herds have either remained static or declined. Assuming equal distribution
of herds, each of the 80921 households in Turkana by 2002 would own an
average of 2 cattle and 30 sheep and goats. This was not any better than
the situation in 1948 when a careful study by the ethnographer, Phillip
Gulliver found that an average household had 25-30 cattle and 101-150
sheep and goats (Gulliver 1951). A recent study by Niamir-Fuller and
Turner (1999) found that the minimum number of livestock units 83 below
which a pastoral household is unable to resist drought cycles is 50. When
83 A livestock unit is being defined as 1 cow, 6 sheep or 6 goats (Niamir-Fuller and Turner
1999).
123