Land and agricultural commercialisation in Meru County, Kenya
Evidence From Three Models
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2157291 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cyriaque Hakizimana (University of the Western Cape, corresponding author), Paul Goldsmith, Abdi Aralle Nunow, Adano Wario Roba, Jane Kathure Biashara |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 555-573 |
| Publication date | 2017-05-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Peasant Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0306-6150 • E-ISSN: 1743-9361 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03066150.2016.1260555 |
| OpenAlex | W2595294134 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 18 |
| References cited | 39 |
What are the relative pros and cons of different pathways of agricultural commercialisation in Africa? This paper examines aspects of three commercial farming cases, each of which represents one of the three most dominant models of commercial agriculture - small-scale outgrowers, medium-size commercial farms and a large estate - in the high-potential area of Meru County in Kenya. The paper provides a comparative perspective across the cases, examining their outcomes in terms of land relations, labour, livelihoods and local economic linkages. The study used a mixed-methods approach, including a household survey and a range of qualitative methods including detailed life histories. We find diverse dynamics across our cases: increasing land consolidation spurred by the rising class of commercial coffee farmers, but also land fragmentation as a result of population pressure and prevalence of inheritance as a pathway to land acquisition in the case of horticultural outgrowers. The plantation generates relatively better paid employment for permanent skilled workers, while the commercial farms create employment for casualised, insecure and poorly paid seasonal labour. These labour regimes are highly gendered. The outgrowers combine family and hired labour. Across the three cases, farmers diversify income between on-farm and off-farm sources. The commercial and outgrower farms are dynamically integrated into the local economy, while the estate is less so. These features of the three models generate processes of social differentiation, which are reshaping the agrarian structure and rural economy in Meru County
Agrarian society · Agricultural economics · Agriculture · Business · Economic growth · Economics · Estate · Geography · Land tenure · Livelihood · Population · Sociology · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Land Rights and Reforms
Why do large-scale agricultural investments induce different socio-economic, food security, and environmental impacts? Evidence from Kenya, Madagascar, and Mozambique
Challenges of employment in the agrifood sector of developing countries—a systematic literature review
Enabling modernisation, marginalising alternatives? Kenya's agricultural policy and smallholders
Large-scale agricultural investments in Eastern Africa
When the cat is away, the mice will play
New Waves of Sugarcane Commercialisation
Gendered land rights, legal reform and social norms in the context of land fragmentation - A review of the literature for Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda
The global food system, agro-industrialization and governance
What’s the Story on Agriculture? Using Narratives to Understand Farming Households’ Aspirations in Meru, Kenya
Gender power in Kenyan dairy
Inclusive business” in agriculture
Multilevel governance of large-scale land acquisitions
Large agricultural investments in Kenya’s Nanyuki Area
Determinants of the lives of households after land loss for urbanization
Colonial Financial Infrastructures and Kenya’s Uneven Fintech Boom
A typology of rural femininity and identity among women coffee producers – A qualitative case study from Costa Rica
Interstitial pastoralism at the economic frontier of Kenya's Central Rift Valley
Plantations, outgrowers and commercial farming in Africa
Living under contract
Fathers Work for Their Sons
The impact of the structural adjustment
The 'Good Wife'
Kenya’s Agricultural Success
The Emergence of African Capitalism
Land pressures, the evolution of farming systems, and development strategies in Africa
Structural transformation or elite land capture? The growth of “emergent” farmers in Zambia
African Agriculture in 50Years
Trade, Standards, and Poverty
Why poor people get rich
What is happening to the Kenyan peasantry
Squatters and the Roots of Mau Mau, 1905-63
Plantations and the Rural Economy
Underdevelopment in Kenya, the Political Economy of Neo-Colonialism, 1964-71
Governance and Trade in Fresh Vegetables
The Kenya peasantry
A survey of plants and plant products traditionally used in livestock health management in Buuri district, Meru County, Kenya
Land and Class in Kenya
Ethnomedicinal study of plants used in villages around Kimboza forest reserve in Morogoro, Tanzania
The Kenyan Agrarian Debate
Land tenure and agrarian change in Kenya
On Farm and Packhouse
Class Formation within the Peasantry
Stories of Rural Accumulation in Africa
Plantations, outgrowers and commercial farming in Africa
The new enclosures
Centering labor in the land grab debate
Big Sugar in southern Africa
Processes of inclusion and adverse incorporation
Space, Time, Rhetoric and Agricultural Change in the Transition Zone of Ghana
| Unique citing works | 18 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 17 |