Austin Scheetz

Laikipia County, central Kenya, is a complex mosaic of private ranches, conservancies, and communally-managed pastoral lands. With so many competing land uses, there have been major conflicts in the past over access to pasture for cattle and sheep/goats. Limited rainfall and grass access often exacerbate the problem, with droughts and political pressures leading to armed invasions of privately-owned ranches in 2017. In an effort to ease tensions and better manage the landscape, many ranchers in the county offer grazing contracts to neighboring pastoralist communities. These contracts allow pastoralists to bring their cattle onto the ranch to graze, paying a monthly fee per head of cattle. My research studies the impacts these arrangements are having on the way pastoralists manage their livestock and care for their own community lands. I use a survey of pastoralists from across Laikipia to create demand curves for grazing contracts, compute elasticities of substitution between cattle and goats, and analyze the effects of ranch access on pastoralists’ herd sizes. If pastoralists are expanding their goat herds back home after putting their cattle on private ranches, there may be major implications for conservation and community engagement in the region. Early results suggest that is exactly what is happening, and that local managers should take a more holistic approach when trying to conserve community grass and preserve the pastoral way of life.