Paper short abstract:

We describe changes in land tenure that accompany the transition from pastoralism to agro-pastoralism in East Africa. We show that individual land allocation encourages individualism and triggers conflicts but may also be a necessary adaptation to dwindling resources and growing population.

Paper long abstract:

Maasai pastoralists are under great pressure today following population growth, land and resource grabbing, and increasing frequency of droughts. They are adapting to these changes by diversifying their livelihood strategies. They develop agriculture, a phenomenon we observed in South-West Kenya and adjacent Loliondo district in Tanzania. This development is concomitant with the division of common land into private holdings. In Maji Moto group ranch, land subdivision resulted in the division and titling of all land into individual holdings of equal size, although not equal value. It is often welcomed by the population, especially by young men willing to free themselves from village institutions controlled by village elders. In Loliondo, the shift to private property was slower and led to the apparition of a new land tenure system that combines private holdings and communal land, in a context of competition for access to land with neighbor agriculturalist communities. It did not result in land titling but a land market is appearing, revealing the irreversible character of the transition. In both cases, the allocation of land to individual households is perceived as encouraging individualism and triggering social conflicts, but also as a necessary adaptation in a context of dwindling resources. These case studies show that if proper land policies are to be designed, researchers and the policy makers they advise need to adopt a polycentric approach where the local moral economy, the global political economy, and material necessities linked to livelihood strategies need to be considered all together.