Cattle and cultivation: Changing land use and labor patterns in pastoral Maasi livelihoods, Loliondo Division, Ngorongoro District, Tanzania

This dissertation takes a cultural ecology approach to provide a descriptive analysis of the status and processes of adoption of cultivation among pastoral Maasai in northern Ngorongoro District, Tanzania. The research was undertaken as a two year field study, during which a significant drought occurred. The focus of the research was on developing a synchronic and diachronic understanding of decisions addressing labor and land use in both pastoral and cultivating activities. Data was gathered at various levels in order to incorporate issues of individual variation, gender and age, in addition to recognizing the influence of larger social structures. By examining variation in cultivation methods, degrees of commitment to cultivation, and alteration in acreage planted, the work identifies agroecological zone, access to and control of labor, and economic status as key variables in if and how cultivation is adopted. It also identifies the combinant nature of the livelihoods of cultivating pastoralists, and the nonlinear change occurring. The work concludes that cultivation is generally incorporated in the study area in such a way as to support the pastoral way of life. Thus, the transition which is occurring is one of diversification of a specialized pastoralism toward a culturally consistent generalized pastoralism, not, in most case, a move from pastoralism to agriculture or agropastoralism. This work contributes ethnographic information regarding the Loita, Purko and Laitayok sections of Maasai, information regarding local responses to climate change and drought in particular, and specific farming systems data of value to agriculture and livestock development and conservation policy makers. It also adds to the broader body of evidence regarding the apparently global trend toward diversification of pastoral livelihoods.