Browsing by Author "Kihiu, Evelyne N."

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    Basic Capabilities Effect: Collective Management of Pastoral Resources in South Western Kenya.
    (Elsevier, 2016-03) Kihiu, Evelyne N.
    Collective action, such as common resource user groups, has gained importance in the management of pastoral natural resources. This study aims at analyzing the effects of basic capabilities, among other factors, on households' decisions to participate in collective management of pastoral resources in Narok County, Kenya. A zero-inflated beta model, in addition to alternative econometric model specifications, is applied on cross-sectional data collected through a household survey. The results confirm the key role of the capability concept in explaining the management of natural resources. Increased basic capabilities, that is, the ability to achieve some minimally acceptable levels of functioning reduce cooperation levels in collective management of pastoral resources. Social capital, neighborhood social influences, resource system characteristics, socioeconomic factors and institutional factors also emerge as key determinants of collective management of pastoral resources. Policy implications drawn by this study encourage strategies to build social capital and facilitate adoption of improved range management technologies where communal management of land is likely to be abandoned for exclusive property rights.
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    Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Kenya
    (Springer International Publishing, 2016) Mulinge, Wellington; Gicheru, Patrick; Murithi, Festus; Maingi, Peter; Kihiu, Evelyne N.; Kirui, Oliver K.; Mirzabaev, Alisher
    Kenya is an agricultural nation, with over 12 million people residing in areas with degraded lands. Unfortunately, the food crop productivity growth in the country has failed to exceed the population growth. The growth of agricultural output in Kenya is constrained by many challenges including soil erosion, low productivity, agro-biodiversity loss, and soil nutrient depletion. Land exploitation devoid of proper compensating investments in soil and water conservation will lead to severe land degradation. This will translate to loss of rural livelihoods, diminished water supplies and threaten the wildlife habitat. This study explores the causes, extent and impacts of land degradation in Kenya, discusses the costs of action versus inaction in rehabilitating degraded lands, and proposes policy options for promoting sustainable land management (SLM). In order to appropriately support SLM, there is a need to account for the total economic value (TEV) of land degradation, i.e. including the value of both provisioning and indirect ecosystem services of land. Using such a TEV approach, findings show that the costs of land degradation due to land use and land cover changes (LUCC) in Kenya reach the equivalent of 1.3 billion USD annually between 2001 and 2009. Moreover, the costs of rangeland degradation calculated through losses in milk and meat production, as well as in livestock live weight decreases reach about 80 million USD annually. Furthermore, the costs of “soil nutrient mining” leading to lower yields for three crops, namely wheat, maize and rice in Kenya were estimated at about 270 million USD annually. The cost of taking action to rehabilitate lands degraded through LUCC is found to be lower than the cost of inaction by 4 times over a 30 year period, i.e. each dollar invested in land rehabilitation is likely to yield four dollars of returns. This may strongly justify the urgent need for taking action against land degradation. Addressing land degradation involves investments in SLM. Our econometric results show that improving access to information on SLM and to the markets (input, output, financial) may likely stimulate investments into SLM by agricultural households.
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    Impact of Financial Literacy on Access to Financial Services in Kenya
    (2012-10) Wachira, Isaac M.; Kihiu, Evelyne N.
    The main thrust of this study is to establish the impact of financial literacy on access to financial services in Kenya using the 2009 National Financial Access (FinAccess) survey data. Using a multinomial logit approach to explain access the the four major financial service access strands, the study found that financial literacy remains low in Kenya. Besides, regression results indicate that households’ access to financial services is not based on levels of financial literacy but rather on factors such as income levels, distance from banks, age, marital status, gender, household size and level of education. However, the study established that the probability of a financially illiterate person remaining financial excluded is significantly high calling for increased investment in financial literacy programs to reverse the trend. The study recommends the development of a curriculum on financial education and administer it in local, middle level and higher learning institutions.