HC Deb 20 October 1953 vol 518 cc252-4W
Mr. Sorensen

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies to what extent the desert has encroached on the territory of Kenya in the last 20 years.

Mr. Lyttelton,

pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 1st April, 1953; Vol. 513, c. 149] supplied the following information:

No true deserts without vegetation exist in Kenya except in the Northern Province, and there is no evidence that these wastes are spreading. Semi-desert, which supports a certain amount of scrub, bush and grass is widespread throughout the Colony below the height of 3,500 feet, but within this area the vegetation varies greatly from place to place and from year to year because of the differing types of soil and the erratic distribution of rainfall. No scientific records or positive figures are available to show that any general permanent change is taking place: the average rainfall over the last 20 years has shown a slight increase over the previous average.

These semi-desert regions are mainly pastoral, however, and in many localities near permanent water supplies the vegetation has shown a change for the worse because of heavy over-stocking during dry weather. Efforts are being made to repair this damage by reducing the number of livestock, by enforcing grazing control, and by providing fresh water supplies, but no rapid improvement can be expected.

Elsewhere in the Colony there are extensive marginal areas under agriculture where during the last 20 or 30 years greater demands have been made on the land, and serious devastation has developed, both through over-stocking and through primitive methods of cultivation. These areas are mainly hilly; rainfall is erratic, and the soils are easily eroded. Though again no scientific records are available, personal observation has led many people to conclude that the climate has changed for the worse and that soil and air temperatures have risen.

These conditions seem to be the inevitable result of the increasing denudation of the soil, and they can only be cured by a great improvement in African methods of land management. It is to this that the energies of the Department of Agriculture and the African Land Utilisation and Settlement Board have been devoted since the war, and with some success; and much has also been done to improve forest protection. But the problem of inducing primitive peoples to abandon their traditional ways and adopt good farming methods has not yet been solved, and in some areas very limited progress has been made.