| dc.description.abstract | Land being an essential factor of production the world over has remained dynamic due to
changes in land uses over time. It determines the socio-cultural and economic basis of most
societies in the world. Since the scramble for Africa through to independence struggle in all
African countries and thereafter land has been at the centre stage. Independent Kenya's efforts
for fast socio-economic development included programs like land adjudication/consolidation and
settlement. In both of these programs, existing customary land rights on trust lands as exercised
by local communities were ultimately registered as individual or communal holdings like group
ranches purposely to facilitate sustainable socio-economic development and environmental
stability. Group ranches which are huge communal land holdings established under the Land
(Group representatives) Act Cap 287 of 1968 Laws of Kenya at the completion of many land
adjudication programmes. The ranches are very useful to pastoralist community members for
settlement and as sources of pasture for their livestock mostly because the common land
ownership allows mobility which is critical coping strategy for pastoralists in Kenya's dry lands.
However, due to internal forces related to their management operations (courtesy of lack of
group ranch constitutions) these ranches came under pressure to subdivide in less than ten years
after formation ushering in a scenario which does not easily support pastoralism!ranching way
of life. After concerted debate the government conceded to group ranch subdivision in the late
1980s.Earlier on the land adjudication program which bore KimanaiTikodo group ranch had
started in 1970 and the ranch was thereafter incorporated in the yearl972 under the Land (Group
representatives) Act Cap 287 Laws of Kenya. After twenty (20) years of operation the ranch was
consented for subdivision in 1992 after dissolution and subdivision resolution was passed by the
group members in a general meeting the same year. All of KimanaiTikodo group ranch and a
small portion of Ogulului/Ololarash ranch among others in Loitokitok District have todate been
subdivided. The whole process and outcome has depicted lack of adequate land management
policy of Group Ranches in Kenya. The subdivision of these ranches has got developers and
environmental researchers worried of increasing loss of grassland for livestock as land
fragmentation is expected to increase due to population growth, increased authority of individual
land owners to open up their land or sale and more so fence it to maximize individual benefits
from it. This scenario will compel the group members to limit their herd sizes due to shrinking
common pastures and water. It is within this background that this study was formulated, to
determine the impacts of land subdivision of Kimana Group Ranch and to suggest mitigation
strategies. The main objective of the study was to examine the socio-economic impacts of the
subdivision on the pastoral households of this ranch in order to make an informed policy
recommendation on matters of land management , since the inception of land subdivisions or
individualizations in the dry lands. i KimanaiTikodo group ranch was selected as the focus of the
study because of its location within the varied and ecologically dry land ecosystems adjacent to
Amboseli National Park and Tsavo National Park on the eastern side; more so, the ranch is the
first to be fully subdivided unlike many in Loitokitok District. Unresolved negative impacts of
subdivision of Kimana Group Ranch will have wider consequences to local livelihoods unless
appropriate policy interventions are made. Questionnaires were administered to respondents
during the study; four research sites were identified based on socio-economic activities in place
and their distance from the park, and interview conducted on 86 respondents. Results show that
generally, land use has not changed much from pastoral use despite the land subdivision. Land
use near the Amboseli National Park has been influenced by land sales and leases. Lease is the
most preferred land tenure arrangement in the area and most of the land portions have been put
under commercial uses and urban settlement. Most land owners in the ranch have not received
the most preferred land tenure arrangement in the area and most of the land portions have been put
under commercial uses and urban settlement. Most land owners in the ranch have not received
their title deeds and most of them are not interested in selling their land. Impacts on the land are
observed to be minimal in the short run but more pronounced at Noomayianat area as the
community in this area increases settlement and agriculture to merge with the Loitoktok
agricultural areas near Impiron .However it has been observed that pastoralist household incomes
have decreased with the onset of land subdivision. Appropriate mitigation measures geared
mainly to new land use planning and management styles to retain the grasslands unopened with a
view to fostering sustainable development in Kimana and other Dry lands are suggested in this
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