The Influence of Colonial Economic Policies on Agricultural Development in Independent Kenya: 1954 To 1992

Historical and contemporary evidence indicates that the colonial government did not make a large-scale effort to develop African agriculture before the 1950s. The emergent African Land Utilization Scheme (ALUS) of 1946 later renamed the African Land Development Board (ALDEV) policy in 1947 objectively focused on ‘communalism’ as agricultural philosophical thought and tackled emerging issues of land usage crisis, land degradation and resettlement to reduce the strain on land. The first large-scale comprehensive post-war colonial plan for promoting African agricultural development was titled the 'Swynnerton Plan' of 1954 called for the intensification of land use in African areas. It was later supplemented by the Land Development and Settlement Board (LDSB) schemes of 1961 – 62, which addressed emerging land issues in addition to integrating Africans into the capitalist economy. This colonial agricultural policy sought to improve African agriculture development through large-scale commercialization of smallholder mixed-farming but failed to achieve the desired objectives in independent Kenya as farmers regressed to subsistence levels. Thus, the study evaluated the economic influence of colonial agricultural policy on Ndalat Settlement Scheme, Nandi County, Kenya. The study adopted a historical descriptive design with a sample size of 32 key informants conveniently sampled from 18 farmers, four cooperative officials, five pioneering settlement officials, two Ministry of Agriculture officials and three retired agricultural officers. Interviews were the main research instrument supplemented by archival and government policy documents. The findings indicated that the Ndalat settlement scheme was part of the colonial LDSB initiatives to resettle the landless Nandi people based on a loan facility under the Her Majesty Government scheme (assisted-owner schemes). The scheme was experimental in design and involved a resettlement programme from scratch. The scheme economically influenced the settlers by integrating them into the capitalist economy through land use intensification and commercialization of smallholding mixed farming systems (milk and maize) of 15 acres. Other important economic influences include; the institutionalized usage of statutory regulatory and marketing boards, individualization of land tenure, promotion of agrarian revolution, raising the economic productivity of land and institutionalization of cooperative societies as marketing agents. The study concluded that the policy largely failed to commercialize smallholding farming systems and ensure the continued subjugation to metropolitan London. The study recommends that the government rewrite a new agricultural policy to promote high-value crops, land intensification techniques and value-creation processing of crops..