Influence of Plant Species Richness on Rural Livelihoods in Kibwezi District of Makueni County, Kenya

Abstract

Scholarly work has much been done generally on ecosystem services but still there is  dearth of knowledge and information on genetic resources specifically plant species richness and their contribution to people's livelihoods.  Despite the presence of variant ecosystems in Kibwezi district, which support variety of plant species, 50.5% of the population lives below the poverty line.  However, there is paucity of information on how plant species existing in these ecosystems contribute to the rural livelihoods in Kibwezi district.  Therefore, this study focused on the contribution of higher species richness to rural livelihoods in Kibwezi district of Makueni county, Kenya. A Cross-sectional descriptive survey design involving use of purposive and simple random sampling was adopted.  Structured questionnaires were used to interview a minimum of 384 households from a study population of 248,704.  The results indicated that the district is endowed with 60 higher plant species  with a significant high correlation  between the higher plant species richness and the area dominated by the plant species and the number of livelihoods supported by the plant species respectively (r=0.721, p<.05; r=0.896,p<0.5) . The higher plant species contribute to various livelihoods with a significant high correlation in brick making (r=.711), wild fruit selling (r=.638) and handcraft selling (r=.620) while there was a weak relationship between higher plants species and livestock keeping (r=.332) herbal medicine selling (r=.243) timber selling( r=.212) firewood selling (r=.397), planted fruit selling (r=.230) and charcoal burning( r=.159). The study concluded that plant species richness enable the residents of Kibwezi district to sustain their livelihoods by getting income from which they acquire basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, paying school fees and other social obligations, hence improving their wellbeing.