Agro-Ecological Assessments for National Planning in Kenya: Database Structure for District Analysis

Onyeji, S.C., Fischer, G., & Kamau, W. (1996). Agro-Ecological Assessments for National Planning in Kenya: Database Structure for District Analysis. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-96-073

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Abstract

The database structure for agro-ecological land resources assessment for development planning in Kenya comprises two broad categories of data: the Land Resources Inventory (LRI) and socio-economic data or statistics. Socio-economic data, compiled primarily from Kenyan sources, are records of actual population, land use, crop production, livestock population, farming inputs, food, demand, etc. The agro-ecological zones (AEZ) methodology utilizes the LRI to assess, for a given level of input, all feasible agricultural land use options as well as expected production of relevant and agro-ecologically feasible cropping activities. With the benefit of socio-economic parameters which are used to define constraints, targets, production and consumption levels for planning objectives, optimal resource allocation schemes corresponding to the desired objectives can be derived. The administrative districts of Kenya cover a wide range of physical conditions and socioeconomic characteristics. It has been necessary, therefore, as part of the update of the socioeconomic database for Kenya to disaggregate socioeconomic data, where possible, at the district level. This update includes also new estimates of socio-economic parameters that will facilitate analysis at the district level. These new estimates and disaggregation represent certain methodological improvements in the application of the AEZ methodology to development planning in Kenya.

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