Small farmers constraints and potentialities. A survey in Kenya

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA URBANA E RURALE
Author/s Nunzia Borrelli, Chiara Caterina Razzano, Giulia Corti, Maura Benegiamo
Publishing Year 2022 Issue 2021/126
Language English Pages 18 P. 133-150 File size 289 KB
DOI 10.3280/SUR2021-126008
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

This paper identifies the features of Kenyan small-scale farmers and their production systems, highlighting the challenges of sustainability transition. Drawing on the agro-ecology and eco-economy literature, the research hypothesis is that Kenyan farmers can play a role of paramount importance in stimulating place-based sustainability practices, and assure food security outcomes, because farming occurs following indigenous, place-based tradition and knowledge. 100 small farmers in the sub-county of Gilgil in Nakuru County, Kenya have been surveyed and profiled. The survey was sponsored by MIUR (Italian Ministry of University and Research). The research aimed to contribute to the debates on the sustainability of food systems.

Keywords: sustainable rural development, smallholders, Kenya, agro-ecology, eco-economy, small-scale farming system

  1. Alila P.O., Atieno R. (2006). Agricultural Policy in Kenya Issues and Processes. A paper for the Future Agricultures Consortium Workshop. Nairobi: Institute of Development Studies - University of Nairobi.
  2. Altieri M.A. (2015). Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture. Boulder CO: Westview Press.
  3. Ambalam K. (2014). Food sovereignty in the era of land grabbing: an African perspective. Journal of sustainable development, 7(2): 121-132.
  4. Borrelli N., Corti G., Benegiamo M. (2018). Small farmers’ Food Production as heritage. Evidence from a survey in Kenya. In Gambardella C. (a cura di). World Heritage and Legacy. Roma: Gangemi Editore.
  5. Bryan E., Ringler C., Okoba B., Roncoli C., Silvestri S., Herrero M. (2013). Adapting agriculture to climate change in Kenya: Household strategies and determinants. Journal of Environmental Management, 114: 26-35.
  6. Caliński T., Harabasz J. (1974). A dendrite method for cluster analysis. Communications in Statistics, 3(1): 1-27. DOI: 10.1080/03610927408827101
  7. ELD/UNEP (2015). The Economics of Land Degradation in Africa: Benefits of Action Outweigh the Costs. Bonn-Nairobi: Economics of Land Degradation/United Nations Environment Programme. -- Text available here: www.eld-initiative.org/fileadmin/pdf/ELD-unep-report_07_spec_72dpi.pdf.
  8. GSBC. (2018). Gilgil Sub County Profile. Shared by Mr D.M Mutuku, State Court Administrative Office, Gilgil Agriculture Officer in Gilgil, personal communication, 2/2/2018.
  9. Haggblade S., Hazell P., Reardon T. (2010). The rural non-farm economy: prospects for growth and poverty reduction. World Development, 38(10): 1429-1441.
  10. IAASTD (2009). Agriculture at a crossroads: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) report (Vol. V). International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development. Washington, DC: Island Press.
  11. Keller G.B., Mndiga H., Maass B.L. (2005). Diversity and genetic erosion of traditional vegetables in Tanzania from the farmer’s point of view. Plant Genetic Resources, 3(3): 400-413.
  12. Kenya Economic Update. (2019). Transforming Agricultural Productivity to Achieve Food Security for All. World Bank. Text available here: www.worldbank.org.
  13. Kenya Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. (2016). Climate Risk Profile for Nakuru. Kenya County Climate Risk Profile Series. Nairobi: MoALF.
  14. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. (2019). 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census: Volume I. Nairobi: KNBS.
  15. Kristjanson P., Reid R.S., Dickson N., Clark W.C., Romney D., Puskur R., MacMillan S., Grace D. (2009). Linking international agricultural research knowledge with action for sustainable development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(13): 5047-5052.
  16. Marsden T.K. (2016). Exploring the Rural Eco‐Economy: Beyond Neoliberalism. Sociologia Ruralis, 56(4): 597-615.
  17. Muyanga M., Jayne T.S. (2014). Effects of rising rural population density on smallholder agriculture in Kenya. Food Policy, 48: 98-113.
  18. Muhanji G., Roothaert R.L., Webo C., Stanley M. (2011). African indigenous vegetable enterprises and market access for small-scale farmers in East Africa. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 9(1): 194-202.
  19. Njeri K.M. (2012). Vyama Institutions of Hope: Ordinary people’s Market Coordination and Society Organization Alternatives. Nairobi: Nsemia.
  20. Onwonga R., Freyer B., Wenzel W., Lelei J. (2007). Agricultural Biodiversity: Lessons from the Smallholder Traditional Farming Systems of the Central Rift Valley Province of Kenya’. Paper presented at the Tropentag Conference October 2007. Witzenhausen, Germany.
  21. Tittonell P., Giller K.E. (2013). When yield gaps are poverty traps: The paradigm of ecological intensification in African smallholder agriculture. Field Crops Research, 143: 76-90.
  22. Van der Ploeg J.D. (2009). The new peasantries: struggles for autonomy and sustainability in an era of empire and globalization. London: Routledge.
  23. Wang J.F., Dinssa F.F., Ebert A.W., Hughes J.D., Stoilova T., Nenguwo N., Keatinge J.D.H. (2014). Indigenous vegetables worldwide: their importance and future development. Acta Horticulturae, 1102: 1-20.
  24. Ward J.H. (1963). Hierarchical Grouping to Optimize an Objective Function. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 58(301): 236-244. DOI: 10.1080/01621459.1963.10500845
  25. Woolverton A., Neven D. (eds.). (2014). Understanding smallholder farmer attitudes to commercialization. The case of maize in Kenya. Rome: FAO.
  26. World Food Summit (1996). Rome-Italy- Rome Declaration of Food security. -- Text available here: http://www.fao.org/3/w3613e/w3613e00.htm.

Nunzia Borrelli, Chiara Caterina Razzano, Giulia Corti, Maura Benegiamo, Small farmers constraints and potentialities. A survey in Kenya in "SOCIOLOGIA URBANA E RURALE" 126/2021, pp 133-150, DOI: 10.3280/SUR2021-126008