Exploiting indigenous knowledge in the environmental conservation and promotion of African plants: case study on Mwingi and Kyuso districts, Kenya

Abstract

Mwingi and Kyuso districts are located in the semi-arid zone V region of Kenya with
annual rainfall of less than 400 mm. The biggest town of the districts is Mwingi town
and it is located about 170km east of Kenya's capital city Nairobi. The two districts are
agro-climatically placed into arid and semiarid zones (ASALs) and they take up 33.6
million hectares of the country's 44.6 million hectares of arable land with substantial
areas, apart from the two districts, being in Machakos, Makueni, Kitui and Kajiado
districts (Gachimbi et al., 2001). It is a region that has traditionally supported low
populations of the Kamba people who were hunters that at the same time practiced
an extremely low intensity form of agriculture and reared livestock (especially goats).
Over several years, they developed sustainable and effective exploitation mechanisms
of the existing biodiversity resources to satisfy their individual needs and those of
their societies in general.

Journal of Language, Technology and Entrepreneurship in Africa Vol. 1 (1) 2007 pp. 126-133