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

9912067这篇论文的增强补助金支持美国研究生，先生。托马斯Smucker，在教授大卫坎贝尔的指导下，在密歇根州立大学地理系的工作，进行土地保有权安全的重要性的研究，以农业集约化在梅鲁，肯尼亚。 非洲农村的许多地区正在经历迅速的政治、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。 土地所有权的发放往往首先发生在半干旱土地相对湿润的边缘地带，这将自给生产系统推向了日益边缘化的土地。 边缘化的这些不同方面的交叉点为农业集约化创造了机会-也造成了障碍，它们还为分析当前土地利用变化模式提供了一个框架。 在肯尼亚，在政府划定土地之前，经济作物生产的初步扩大就开始于梅鲁。 土地所有权进一步加速了梅鲁高地大部分地区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，无地或土地贫乏的农民开始下坡移徙到梅鲁的半干旱地区，在那里他们与当地的Tharaku-Meru居民竞争。Smucker先生将利用一个政治生态学框架，将人与环境的相互作用视为由社会中的权力关系构成的，探讨梅鲁土地所有权的当前阶段、其对更广泛的土地保有权保障制度的影响以及其对景观资本投资的影响，以支持农业集约化。 这项研究将在三个下米德兰地区进行，这些地区代表了土地所有权的不同阶段。 预计项目结果将显示农业集约化模式与作为当代土地使用变化模式出现基础的复杂社会进程之间的关系。 肯尼亚国际畜牧研究所的Robin Reid博士和肯雅塔大学地理系的Edna Wangui博士将为Smucker先生提供有关该项目的指导。预计研究结果将增加目前关于土地利用变化的社会驱动力的知识，并将对地理学家、自然资源保护者和政策制定者具有价值。 该项目还将在优秀研究生的职业生涯早期提供国际研究经验。 该项目由国际方案司和行为和认知科学司共同资助。

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.