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

and, hence, to propagate depastoralisation. This was an elite outsider’s
view of pastoralism as a primordial mode of production which should be
discouraged. However, it is shown that the colonial period was marked by
the increasing occurrence of food shortages. This seems to suggest that,
aside from the effects of natural factors, there were other factors which
had direct influence on the food situation. Of particular importance were
negative policies in relation to land. The period witnessed the drawing of
political boundaries and creation of block grazing schemes. Borders were
fixed, and access to key resources was curtailed with little regard to
seasonal variation and the needs of the people for pasture. The policy also
placed the integral Turkana tribal land area under more than one political
entity, which conflicted with indigenous resource use strategies. This
meant that within the new fixed tribal boundaries, the environment was
placed under more severe pressure. These measures greatly affected the
transhumant patterns already mastered by the Turkana pastoralists from
their long experience with ecological hardships. The border restriction also
destroyed the lubricating social rubric traditionally obtained through trade
and intermarriages with the neighbouring tribes.
During the post-independence period, a number of changes have occurred
that have influenced the food situation and coping strategies in pastoral
areas in general, and in Turkana in particular. The most profound of these
are fishing, irrigation schemes, and restocking. Attention has grown in
stages, realising a number of achievements. But from the evidence
adduced, fishing and irrigated agriculture have not been successful and
have failed as a viable means of solving the food crisis in Turkana.
Restocking, as a means of reinstating destitute back into pastoral life, has
also failed. The failure of the projects seems to suggest that the traditional
technologies have been replaced with largely unsuitable adaptations from
those operating in the high potential agricultural areas. Those few
technologies that have been introduced in pastoral projects have either not
worked satisfactorily or have only done so at prohibitive and hence
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