Rainfall, agriculture, livestock and human density in the dry regions of Kenya.

Models based on empirical data are produced to predict the human carrying capacity of semi-arid and arid Kenyan districts from rainfall and the resulting crop and livestock yields. These models predict a carrying capacity ranging from 1-2 persons/km², depending on livestock in the driest districts, to about 200 persons/km² depending on maize and beans at the upper limit (76 cm) of the semi-arid zone, based on the assumption that the average long-term rainfall is received every year. In semi-arid crop growing areas the maximum human populations observed are at or below the carrying capacity predicted from the average annual rainfall but are at or above the carrying capacity based on a 1 in 10 year low rainfall level.-from Authors