ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the history and changing government and donor perceptions of pastoral development in Turkana District, Kenya. While colonial officers saw grazing schemes as an important weapon in their battle against drought and famine, the major thrust of colonial and post-colonial policy was to encourage the development of economic alternatives to pastoralism. Colonial attempts to impose grazing controls in Turkana achieved mixed results. Controls were restricted to the demarcation of dry-season grazing reserves. The history of colonial grazing schemes in Turkana is a history of good intentions with few resources to back them up. Although a few Turkana had always fished in the lake, the development of a fishing industry started as a famine-relief measure. Due to low and variable annual yields, irrigation farming in Turkana has never offered an even marginally secure economic existence, let alone a profitable alternative to pastoralism.
