Community Participation and the Integration of Agroecosystem Health and Sustainability Concerns into Practical Decision Making - Integrated Assessment of Health and Sustainability of Agroecosystems - page 72

table 3.3
Institutions Perceived to be the most Important in decision making
among the Intensive study sites, Kiambu district, Kenya, 1997

Institution Githima Gitangu Kiawamagira mahindi Gikabu thiririka

Administration a D D C C C C

Agriculture a D I 1,2 D D I

Churches C I 5 C C I

Coffee factories C 1

Co-op C 1 I 1 I

Culture a I 3,4

Plan International I 2,3 C

Police D

Politicians I 5

Private clinics I

Private vets I C C C

Health a D D D I C

Public works a I 1 D D

Schools C 2 C 2,3,4,5 C C I C

Tea centers C 1

CBOs C 2 C 3,4,5 D

Forestry a D I

Health
foundation

C

World vision D

1,2,3,4,5 C, collaboration between the institution and village community; D, decision making only;
I, information and some degree of interaction with the community
1,2,3,4,5 Institutions with similar superscript numbers perceived as collaborating with each other by
residents of the respective villages
a Government departments

3.3.2 p r o f i l e s A n D t r e n D s

3.3.2.1 trend lines

Attributes included in trend lines are summarized in Table 3.5. In Githima village,
rainfall and soil fertility were perceived as decreasing since 1964, resulting in declin-
ing crop and livestock yields. Both phenomena were seen to be related to the cutting
down of the forest that once existed in the area. The number of people engaged in
farming as well as the intensity of farming were reported to have been increasing
since the early 1960s. Scarcity of farmland became an issue beginning from the
early 1970s, and this was seen as resulting from an increasing population growth rate
since the late 1950s. The increase in human diseases, of which pneumonia and colds
were the most common, was associated with lack of water, an increase in the use of
agricultural chemicals, smoking, and a changing lifestyle.