Suitability Analysis of Water Pan Sites for Pastoralists: A Case Study of Kajiado County in Kenya

Abstract

The paper looks into the analysis of water spatial accessibility by pastoralists in Kajiado County. Since it's a pastoralist area, the demand for water is essential, but due to climate change, the area experiences erratic rains, extreme temperatures and cyclic and prolonged droughts. The need to access improved water supply is considered to boost economic development poverty alleviation. With inadequate water harvesting structures, integrated journal positions the need to excavate more water pans which require a systematic study to come up with the suitable positions where excavation will occur. To come up with a commendable finding and analysis, the paper gives a methodology for data collection identifying relevant factors affecting citing of water. The factors incorporated in questionnaires were slope, soils, location of pastures, villages, existing water points and grazing routes. Therefore, both critical and descriptive discussion of the field's issues is warranted. From the suitability analysis, of the county's land mass 3.06% is in very highly suitable, 28.67% is highly suitable, 67.98% is moderately suitable and 0.29% is not suitable. The comparative analysis shows that the new water pans are established in moderately suitable area. The study concludes by crediting the need to attributed GIS analysis and spatial modeling for the purpose of helping the County Government effort to provide sustainable water pans to its people.

Social and Economic Contributions of the Drip Irrigation Technology at the Household and Community Level in Kajiado County, Kenya

“…The study was carried out in Kajiado County which is a large pastoralists area characterized by nomadic life with many in search of pasture due to prolonged dry spells and unpredictable rainfall seasons exacerbated by climate change (Mutua and Boitt, 2017). Due to increased support by the government in the region, the study identified sites that has received immense support on irrigation technologies looking at the impact of smallscale drip irrigation on crop diversification in Kajiado Central in Mashuru, Isinya and Namanga.…”