Benefits of pastoralist mobility for nutrition in Kenya
Pastoralist mobility underpins resilience, food security, nutrition, and human and animal health. The USAID Nawiri Longitudinal Study Learning Brief 2 “Mobility matters: the benefits of pastoralist mobility for nutrition in Marsabit and Isiolo Counties, Kenya” (2023, 12pp) by Elizabeth Stites et al presents findings on strategic mobility and its nutritional benefits to pastoralist communities in several sites in northern Kenya.
The key messages of the study are:
- As the central strategy of pastoral production, mobility occurs along established seasonal patterns with variations to allow herders to optimise animal health and nutrition. When unfettered, mobility allows pastoralists to seek the best pasture and browse conditions for different animal species, thus maximising nutritional benefits. Local customary institutions govern mobility and seek to preserve the natural resource base, such as by limiting overgrazing.
- Mobility allows pastoralists to take advantage of opportunities while mitigating risk. Dryland areas experience highly variable rainfall. This means that opportunities, such as access to good pasture and water, change over time and space. The most important risks faced by pastoralists include protracted droughts, animal disease outbreaks and potential conflict with other groups. Regular mobility allows pastoralists to capitalise on shifting opportunities while avoiding inherent risks, but barriers to strategic mobility are numerous.
- Mobility benefits the nutrition of people as well as livestock by enabling enhanced management of natural resources, increased resilience to climate variability, reduced risk of livestock loss and sustained herd productivity. Animal health translates directly to human health in pastoral systems, by providing nutritious animal source foods and a major source of household income. For women, infants and young children, staying at a fora (rangeland area for animal grazing) has clear nutritional benefits in terms of increased availability of animal products and a less contaminated health environment. Women will often seek to maximise their time with infants and young children in the fora.
The brief is an output of the study “The seasonality of child acute malnutrition and its drivers in Marsabit & Isiolo” carried out in 2021–23 by Tufts and Kenyatta Universities, Catholic Relief Services and Caritas. The quantitative component entailed 12 rounds of data collection with a cohort of households with children under five years of age, plus two annual surveys. The qualitative component consisted of iterative rounds of data collection using participatory approaches in all study sites. The study sought to increase understanding of the causes of persistent acute malnutrition through a collaborative learning process involving local communities, county institutions, civil society and the private sector. More details can be found at https://fic.tufts.edu/research-item/research-and-capacity-building-support-to-the-nawiri-project/
Posted on 16 March 2024 in Pastoral Research & Innovation, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure, Pastoralist Livelihoods & Nutrition