Effect of cropping policy on landowner reactions towards wildlife: a case of Naivasha area, Kenya

Mailu, Stephen and Kuloba, Bernard and Ruto, Eric and Nyangena, Wilfred (2010): Effect of cropping policy on landowner reactions towards wildlife: a case of Naivasha area, Kenya.

Abstract

Wildlife policy in Kenya has in most part been protectionist with little incentives to private landowners, who host wildlife in their farms to participate in their conservation. However, in recognition of the role of incentives in conservation, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) piloted a wildlife utilization policy in which organized landowners were allowed a cropping quota based on the number of wildlife present within their land. This study investigates the impact of such policy on human-wildlife conflicts using data compiled from a list of complaints lodged at the KWS warden’s office from farms around Lake Naivasha. Using this data, Poisson and negative binomial regression models are employed to estimate the effect of the wildlife cropping and policy and other factors on the frequency of wildlife damage incidences reported at the KWS offices. Results indicate that the policy may not have worked as intended since rather than reducing the number of conflict reports, it had an unexpected effect of increasing problem reports to KWS. The results are discussed and some recommendations provided.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Wildlife; Cropping; Count data regression; Buffalo; Landowners
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D62 - Externalities; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B4 - Economic Methodology > B40 - General; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q2 - Renewable Resources and Conservation > Q28 - Government Policy; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C3 - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models ; Multiple Variables > C34 - Truncated and Censored Models ; Switching Regression Models

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