The Modern Day Gikuyun Farmer :: Economics Kenya Agriculture Essays

The Modern Day Gikuyun FarmerThe following are excerpts from a research project undertaken by Ramya Bavikatte on her Washington Semester at American University. Ramya traveled with her class to Kenya, where she learned more about the issues of small toter agribusiness and the Gikuyun farmer.The purpose of this research project is to study the economic and brotherly implications of smallholder agriculture in Kenya. The shift of smallholders from subsistence dry undercoat to cash crop farming created significant changes in the standards of living, cordial security, reproduction, and the sexual division of labor. With the strong social impact of technical farming, many Kenyans are wondering whether they are materially better or worse off than they were thirty five eld ago. One of the most evident ways in which commercial agriculture affects the Kenyan people is through ecological and land degradation. Due to the ever-increasing pressures institutionalise on the land, frequent ar idity has led to greater risk of a bad harvest or even famine. Food relief to Kenya has crop more common, therefore elevating the dependency on donor countries. Since a well-organized governing body of providing social security does not exist in Kenya, the best self-assurance of economic security comes through the ownership of land. In addition to the land security, commercial agriculture provides an inlet for added security through market extensions. commercialise extensions aid farmers and their families by providing loan and investment services. Unfortunately, the creation boom in Kenya, as everywhere in Africa, means less land and rural opportunities consequently, the appendd rural density has forced people to seek tame in the cities. Although the city dwellers accommodate more control over their tame conditions, they are by no means financially stable since the work will inevitably be in the informal sector. All the inevitably of the city dwellers must be met by cas h payments, of which they rarely have enough. Perhaps commercial agriculture is not entirely to blame for the population boom. It could be considered, however, as a catalyst for industrialization. Industrialization coupled with commercial agriculture will exacerbate social tensions already in macrocosm among the Kenyan people. Any shift towards higher productivity or income ingathering in the population as a whole must increase the range of wealth differences. Unfortunately, the economic gap between the North and southmost grows as wealth continues to transfer of the Norths sector. The Natural Environment of the Gikuyu Farmer Gikuyuland makes up a large portion of the great East African plateau.