Agricultural Productivity and Environmental Conservation in Kenya

This book examines the link between environmental conservation practices and agricultural productivity in a fragile ecological environment in Kajiado district, Kenya. The work was carried out against the background of growing concern that declining agricultural productivity and increasing poverty are a cause as well as a consequence of environmental degradation. The work sought to explore mechanisms for escaping from a poverty trap where poverty leads to increased resource degradation, which in turn leads to low productivity and to more poverty. Panel data is used to examine the nexus between environmental capital, farm productivity and profitability for the period. The book illustrates that environmental conservation practices reduce poverty through increased agricultural production. Provision of incentives for environmental conservation is the first step towards poverty reduction in the district. Other important policy implications include making labour markets more competitive, educating producers on the benefits of environmental conservation and about the need to conserve biomass.