Pastoralists in transition — a case study from Lengijape, Maasai Steppe

Abstract

The change of the Maasai from pure pastoralists to agropastoralists has brought about serious problems for them. This paper tries to analyse this process of change and to throw some light on the resultant problems. First, it is being shown how the climate of the Maasai Steppe is too dry for a successful cultivation of maize by them, which has become their main food. Successive crop failures and high labour costs have rendered maize-growing a losing-business for the Maasai. Moreover, the State policy of granting certificates of occupancy in the Maasai land to outsiders allowing them to make large-mechanized farms, has alarmed the Maasai so much that many of them rushed back to their home areas to rescue their land from being grapped by other ethnic groups. Thus, they began to abandon their traditional grazing-movements, which are highly adapted to the ecological conditions of the Maasai Steppe. At the same time, the herds of the Maasai were decimated, because of the spread of animal diseases following the deterioration of the State veterinary service system. Added to this are the losses incurred through distress sales of cattle for buying maize for food, at a time at which the maize prices are increasing at a much higher rate than the prices of livestock. This dilemma of the Maasai and their indigenous coping mechanisms are being illustrated by the case of the people of Mokia at Namalulu, with special consideration of the role of women in solving these problems.