A history of women’s land rights and food production in Kasipul division, Homa-Bay county Kenya, 1908-2012

Abstract

In most developing countries, land is the most essential resource for agricultural production. As such, secure access, ownership and use of land leads to improved food security hence poverty reduction especially in the rural areas. Much as it is imperative to note that a lot of ground has been covered through affirmative action, the graph still remains skewed to the disadvantage of women, especially in rural areas. Despite women being the main food producers for their families, a majority of them still do not have secure access to, use and ownership of land. In Kenya, the rights to property are guaranteed in law for both men and women. However, the realization of this objective has not been optimized due to intersectional factors. And based on the centrality of women in food production, rural areas like Kasipul continue to witness food insecurity due to questions of rights to access, usage and disposal of land. This study has therefore interrogated from a historical perspective, women‘s land rights and its impacts on food production among the Luo of Kasipul from 1908 to 2012. The study accounted for British colonial policies on women's land rights and food crop production among the Luo of Kasipul from 1908 to 1963; evaluated the government's land policy for increased food production in Kasipul after independence from a gendered perspective; and examined the implications of constitutional reformsin Kenya on women‘s land rights in relation food production in Kasipul from 2002 to 2012. The study was guided by Berman‘s (1984) articulation of modes of production theory whose two main tenets are; forces of production defined as the modes of appropriation of nature that encompasses all the resources used in production andsecondly, relations of production which implies the way in which labour is organized and reproduced. The study also adopted Intersectionalitytheory as proposed by Crenshaw (1989) and used the simultaneity tenet to unpack the multilayered forms of gender inequality affecting women. The study adopted descriptive research design. Through the use of the Purposive and Snowball sampling techniques, a sample size of 40 respondents was determined. In-depth Interviews, Key Informant Interviews and Focus Group Discussions as well as archival records were utilized to gather primary data while desktop research was used to gather secondary data. The study then utilized qualitative methods of data analysis to draw conclusions and used discussions approach to present the findings.The study established that colonial policies on land, labor, and taxation impacted on women‘s rights of ownership, usage and disposal of land which had a direct impact on optimization of food production in Kasipul.Furthermore, the land tenure reforms initiated soon after independence undermined the customary laws that had secured usufruct rights to land by women. Men, who were regarded as the legitimate heads of households were registering land in their names. In addition, the laws and policies passed by successive post-colonial governments to promote women land rights were not put into practice fully. This happened despite the effort to enable women, whether married or not, to access, own, utilize, and even inherit land. The capacity of women to manage land in a way that would increase food production was hampered by the lack of security around their land ownership and use. Finally the studydemonstratedthat Kenya's 2010 constitutional proclamation furthered the advancement of women's land rights. However, this did not bridge the gap for most women, especially those in rural areas who continue to grapple with multilayered obstacles to full realization of their rights to land. The study therefore recommended that state and non-state actors should partner in the sensitization of women on the provisions of the law that guarantees those rights to land.