Kenya – Transhumance Tracking in Turkana County Round #1 (September 2024)

DTM Kenya's Transhumance Tracking Tool was launched in July of 2024 in two of Kenya's Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) Counties, namely Turkana and Garissa. Enumerators were placed at ten pastoral mobility tracking points per County and interviewed a mix of Elders, Animal health workers, herds owners, livestock association chairpersons, youth leaders, water use committee chairpersons, businesspersons and/or community members. Most respondents were pre-identified persons (58% in Turkana) but others were identified on-the-spot during data collection (42% in Turkana). Sampling was purposive, based on persons with assumed knowledge of the topic. Enumerators used surveys with different questions altered based on the respondent type.

Key Findings

• Historically, pastoralists would move to known pastureland and grazing land with the rainy or dry seasons, respectively.
• However, TTT data showed that 57 per cent of the informants in Turkana reported that pastoralists had no intention of moving in the near future. Those who did move, or planned to move, were largely driven by the pursuit of improved pasture and increased access to water.
• All respondents (100%) reported that there was a decrease in water and an increase in livestock at the functional water points in the six months prior to data collection, indicating potentially limited supply and heightened demand. Yet, while nearly half of respondents had observed increased tensions between clans at waterpoints, few (18%) reported that the tensions had evolved into resource-driven conflicts.
• Notably, 58 per cent reported the perception that livestock are more prone to disease at the time of data collection than in the recent past
• 85 per cent reported that they had observed animal disease outbreaks in the two weeks prior to data collection.