Land Use Land Cover Changes and Implications for Food Production: A Case Study of Keumbu Region Kisii County, Kenya

The study explored land use /cover changes, food production trends and main drivers behind deteriorating agricultural land, relationship between population, land use changes and implications on food production and security. The area experienced a high rate of land use / cover changes affecting food production. Agricultural land fragmentations, population increase and urbanization led to decrease of agricultural land and food production leaving the rural livelihoods food insecure. Land use / cover changes classification and analysis done using Landsat TM image in Erdas Imagine. Soil fertility, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), population density and poverty processed, analyzed and correlated to food production using ArcGIS 10.1 and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Forestland and grassland reduced by 58 % and 91 %; Cropland and settlements increased by 11 % and 0.6 % respectively. Population density was 4303 persons per square kilometers, with 65 % in absolute poverty. Population growth and settlements had moderate negative relationship with food production while forestland had strong positive correlation relationship. The soil fertility depletion shows a negative trend impacting food production with decrease of 29 %.