Non-existent micro-level estimates on the impact of
migration on livelihood in rural areas in Kenya, c
ompounded with minimal
literature on the same, called for this study. This
study used secondary data from the 2005 to 2015 Af
rican Wildlife Foundation
Livelihoods dataset from Kilimanjaro landscape, wit
h the purpose was of undertaking a comparative live
lihood analysis between
the in-migrant and non-migrant communities in Kiman
a Community of Kajiado County in Kenya. The study s
hows that in-
migrants engage in a variety of livelihood strategi
es unlike non-migrants who undertake mainly livesto
ck rearing. Livelihood
endowment is associated with diversification of str
ategies, and was established to be responsive to: n
utritional status of children
from either of the communities; amount of land unde
r cultivation; level of education, and; stability o
f market based on household
economic status. Lower food security due elderly he
aded households and spouses with low level of educa
tion was observed
among the non-migrant communities. Equally, childre
n of in-migrants had a higher stunting rate (6.06 p
ercent) compared to
those of non-migrants (5.12 percent), just as the a
nthropometric assessment showed that children of th
e non-migrant
communities than those of the in-migrants had highe
r nutritional levels. Household livelihood assets l
ike natural resources,
education of household spouses, tradition and cultu
re of the people, was established to be significant
factors affecting food and
nutrition security.
It implies that food security (i.e. availability, s
tability and dietary diversity) is better among the
in-migrant households than the
non-migrant households, while anthropometry assessm
ents show that non-migrants have higher nutritional
capacity than their
in-migrant counterparts; implying that food availab
ility does not necessarily ensure food security. Ed
ucation of female spouse
rather than male household head positively influenc
es the food availability and stability in the house
hold. Hence, the need for
policies that are responsive to female education, n
atural resource exploitation and micro-level popula
tion policies.