US-Kenya Dissertation Enhancement: From Pattern to Process in Land Use Change: Land Reform and Agricultural Intensification in Meru

9912067本学位论文增强补助金支持美国研究生Thomas Smacker先生在密歇根州立大学地理系David Campbell教授的指导下进行一项关于土地保有权保障对肯尼亚Meru农业集约化的重要性的研究。非洲许多农村地区正在经历快速的政治、环境和经济变化，这些变化正在影响土地所有权和使用模式。土地所有权往往首先发生在相对潮湿的半干旱土地边缘，这将自给自足的生产系统推向越来越边缘的土地。这些边际性不同方面的交叉为农业集约化创造了机会和障碍，也为分析当前土地利用变化的模式提供了一个框架。在肯尼亚，经济作物生产最初是在政府划定土地之前在Meru开始扩大的。土地所有权制度进一步加速了梅鲁大部分高地融入货币经济的进程。由于人口增长和由此对高地资源造成的压力，无地或贫瘠的农民开始向Meru的半干旱土地下坡迁移，在那里他们与当地的Tharaku-Meru居民竞争。在政治生态框架中，斯莫克认为人与环境的互动是由社会中的权力关系构建的，他将探讨Meru土地所有权的当前阶段，它对更广泛的土地保有权保障体系的影响，以及它对支持农业集约化的景观资本投资的影响。这项研究将在代表土地所有权不同阶段的三个米德兰下城地点进行。预计项目结果将显示农业集约化模式与复杂的社会进程之间的关系，这些进程是当代土地利用变化模式出现的基础。肯尼亚国际畜牧研究所的罗宾·里德博士和肯雅塔大学地理系的埃德娜·万吉博士将就这一项目向斯莫克先生提供指导。研究结果有望增加对土地利用变化的社会驱动力的现有知识，并将对地理学家、自然资源保护者和政策制定者有价值。该项目还将支持一名优秀研究生在职业生涯早期的一次国际研究经历。该项目由国际项目部和行为与认知科学部共同资助。

9912067This dissertation enhancement grant supports a US graduate student, Mr. Thomas Smucker, working under the guidance of Professor David Campbell, of the Department of Geography at Michigan State University, to conduct a study of the importance of land tenure security to agricultural intensification in Meru, Kenya. Many parts of rural Africa are undergoing rapid political, environmental, and economic changes which are affecting land ownership and usage patterns. Land titling tends to occur first in the relatively wetter margins of semi-arid lands, which pushes subsistence production systems into increasingly marginal lands. The intersections of these various dimensions of marginality create opportunities--and barriers--for agricultural intensification, and they also provide a framework for analyzing current patterns of land use change. In Kenya, initial expansion of cash crop production began in Meru before governmental land demarcation. Land titling further accelerated the integration of most of the highlands of Meru into a monetary economy. As a result of population growth and the resulting pressure on highland resources, landless or land-poor farmers have begun a downslope migration into the semi-arid lands of Meru, where they are in competition with the local Tharaku-Meru inhabitants. Using a political ecology framework, which views human-environment interactions as structured by power relations in society, Mr. Smucker will explore the current phase of land titling in Meru, its impact on the broader land tenure security system, and its implications for investment in landscape capital to support agricultural intensification. The study will be conducted at three lower midland sites representing various stages of land titling. Project results are expected to show the relationship between patterns of agricultural intensification and the complex social processes which underlie the emergence of contemporary patterns of land use change. Dr. Robin Reid, at Kenya's International Livestock Research Institute, and Dr. Edna Wangui, of the Department of Geography at Kenyatta University, will provide guidance on this project to Mr. Smucker.The results are expected to increase the current knowledge about the social driving forces of land use change, and will be of value to geographers, conservationists, and policy makers. This project will also support an international research experience very early in the career of an outstanding graduate student. This project is being jointly funded by the Division of International Programs and the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences.