Improved Farming in the Central Nyanza District—Kenya Colony
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1960.tb00162.x |
| Date | 01 April 1960 |
| Published date | 01 April 1960 |
| Author | P. D. McEntee |
Improved
Farming
in
the
Central
Nyanza
District-
Kenya
Colony
by P. D.
McENTEE
Formerly
District
Commissioner,
Central
Nyanza.
Background
THE Central
Nyanza
District comprises
an
area
of approximately 1,760 sq.
miles
and
it lies on
the
eastern shores
of
Lake Victoria,
much
of it
around
the
edge of
the
Kavirondo Gulf.
In
the
north, north-east
and
south
are
the higher
areas of
the
district.
Here
the
land
is fertile
and
heavily populated.
From
these
areas it slopes gently down towards
the
lake shore
and
fertility falls off.
There
are
still quite large areas
of
tsetse bush where
the
population is negligible.
Rainfall is generally good,
again
falling off with the altitude.
The
area
is populated mainly by members of
the
Luo
tribe who
are
of
Nilotic origin.
In
the north, on the
Uganda
border, there
are
three locations
predominantly occupied by
Bantu
and
on
the
north-east, where
the
district
borders with
North
and
Elgon Nyanza,
Bantu
and
Luo
occupy the
area
together
and
have intermarried considerably.
The
Luo
are
aproud, conservative
people, who do
not
take readily to change in their traditional
method
of
land
usage.
The
Bantu elements share these attributes
but
are
generally less conser-
vative.
Since
the
land
was occupied, it has been controlled by the traditional clan
elders who have apportioned it in accordance with tribal custom. A system of
shifting cultivation has been practised,
and
by custom a
man
not
cultivating a
particular
piece of
land
allotted to
him
must allow the members of his clan to
graze it.
In
consequence, as
the
population has increased, the
land
has
not
been
allowed to rest. Before
the
pressure of population became aproblem
the
system
was adequate.
Over
the
last thirty years or so, however, there has been asteady
deterioration in fertility.
Over
the
years
the
young
men
of the district have gone to seek work outside
it in
the
towns, in industry
and
on
European
farms.
Today
it is estimated
that
approximately
half
of
the
tax-paying population work outside
the
district
leaving their families
at
home. Were it
not
for the money sent back by this
element, poverty would be a real
problem
Those
who
remain
in the district have always regarded
the
land
merely as a
means of obtaining food
and
of grazing their flocks.
The
conception of
the
land
being used to make money has, until recently, been something quite foreign to
them.
The
problem, therefore, has been to try to change these traditional ideas,
and
to instil a new conception
of
individual ownership
and
arealisation
that
the
land
properly used will
not
only provide
the
necessities
of
life
but
asteady
additional income which will raise
the
standard
of
living.
As in all systems of shifting cultivation, very considerable fragmentation
of
the
land
has taken place over the years,
and
it was evident from
the
outset
that
any
system of better farming would have to incorporate a
plan
to consolidate
holdings.
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