Agrarian Change and Indigenous Food Production: A Historical Study of the Abagusii, 1955–1970

Abstract

The study sought to examine how agrarian change influenced the decline of indigenous food production among the Abagusii community of western Kenya between 1955 and 1970. Before this period, the Abagusii relied on communal land ownership, indigenous seed systems and indigenous cropping methods that sustained food security and reinforced cultural values. However, land reforms such as the Swynnerton Plan, introduction of exotic livestock and post-independence agricultural policies shifted emphasis toward commercial crop production. As families increasingly planted cash crops such as tea, coffee and pyrethrum and adopted grade cattle, indigenous crops such as millet, sorghum and indigenous legumes gradually declined. Migration to estates and urban centres in search of income further removed labour from rural farms and encouraged reliance on purchased food. Education policies and youth agricultural programs, including 4-K Clubs, promoted modern farming practices and high-value crops, shaping a generation that associated progress with commercial agriculture rather than indigenous food production. Grounded in modernisation theory, this study explores how shifts in Kenya’s agrarian structure have shaped patterns of indigenous food production. This study adopted a historical research design, utilizing purposive and snowball sampling to identify knowledgeable informants in Gusiiland in regard to indigenous food production. Findings indicate that agrarian modernisation created economic opportunities but weakened indigenous production. The study concludes that agrarian change led to growing demand of western education, rural to rural and rural to urban migration which led to the decline indigenous food production. The study recommends that agricultural policies should integrate modern agriculture with indigenous food production through culturally sensitive and community-based approaches to achieve sustainable food production practices.