| dc.description.abstract | In Kenya, land degradation due to soil erosion, demographic pressure and in appropriate land use right systems threaten the livelihood of the farmer. The farmers in Kiambu District of central Kenya suffer from erosion in the. form of sheet, rills, and gully erosion. Therefore the objective of this research is to quantify the effect of demographic pressure and land ownership right on soil erosion and to recommend suitable land use right as well as appropriate land management schemes. Indeed the study used RS & GIS for information on land cover and land use changes to measure the joint effects of land fragmentation due to population pressure, land ownership right, and land management on soil erosion.
The study was conducted in three divisions of the Kiambu District by selecting one small watershed from each division. This enabled us to capture variations between the locations in population density, soil erosion rates using RUSLE, and land management practices. Secondary and primary data acquired from satellite images of the spatial areas and interview conducted with selected sample respondents from target population within the study sites.
The results of three watersheds selected in the divisions are: high population density of Kiambaa (Nythuna-Kihara Watershed) and Kikuyu (Nyongara watershed) divisions have good agricultural land management and vegetation cover. Mean soil loss rates of watersheds predicted were 86 ton ha' year' and 58 ton ha' year' respectively. However from land use change analysis less densely populated ofNdeiya (Gicheru watershed) high loss of bush land, less vegetation cover on crop land, and less supportive practices (conservation measures). Mean predicted soil erosion rate was 328 ton ha' year'. These results have indicated a soil loss rate by water erosion is highly correlated with people activity for livelihood and land management rather than population density. | en_US |
