"Impacts and Value of Wildlife in Pastoral Livestock Production Systems in Kenya"

Fumi Mizutani and Elizabeth Muthiani

Four Kenyan pastoral communities in semi-arid areas of Laikipia and Amboseli participated in an in-depth socioeconomic household survey corresponding to one-year periods within the March 2001 - March 2003 time-frame. One hundred households were selected randomly from the geographical clusters within each community in order to compare characteristic of different communities. The year surveyed was considered, by the communities, an average/good year for Laikipia and a bad year for Amboseli.

Laikipia communities had fewer cattle than the Amboseli community and derived less net profit proportionately. However, the wildlife-based enterprise benefited every level of the community in poorer pastoral communities- more than in wealthier ones compared to the benefits derived from livestock production.

Reductions in communities' livestock production caused by predation and major diseases have been calculated using the Livestock Production Efficiency Calculator. We will discuss differences in group ranch sizes, rainfall, soil fertility and progress in community-based wildlife utilisation.