The Historical Emergence and Institutionalization of Smallholder Tea Farming in Kipsigis Land, Kenya (1924-1963)

Paulo Koech; Winny Ngeno Koech; Caleb Cherop Kemboi; Isaya Oduor Onjala; George Odhiambo

doi:10.18535/sshj.v9i08.1986

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to trace the historical emergence and institutionalization of smallholder tea farming in Kipsigis land between 1924 and 1963 under colonial administration. This study examines how colonial agricultural policies, land alienation, and labor recruitment systems facilitated the introduction of tea cultivation while initially excluding African farmers from direct participation. Using a historical qualitative research design, data were collected through oral interviews with 61 respondents, archival research at Kenya National Archives, and analysis of colonial administrative records. The findings reveal that tea farming was introduced in 1924 as a settler enterprise but gradually incorporated African participation through labor migration and eventual smallholder schemes beginning in 1954. The research demonstrates how colonial restrictions on African cash crop cultivation were gradually relaxed through the Swynnerton Plan, leading to the establishment of pilot tea schemes that laid the foundation for post-independence smallholder tea production. This study contributes to understanding colonial agricultural development policies and their long-term impacts on rural African communities. The significance lies in documenting how colonial exclusion and subsequent inclusion shaped the institutional framework of Kenya's tea industry and influenced rural livelihoods in the post-independence period.

Keywords

Working capitalProfitabilityLiquidityLeverageEquityDebt capital

References

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[refR-2] Bates, R. H. (1989). Beyond the miracle of the market: The political economy of agrarian development in Kenya. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-3] Berman, B. J. (1990). Control and crisis in colonial Kenya. Heinemann Publishers.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-4] Brett, E. A. (2003). Participation and accountability in development management. Journal of Development Studies, 40(2), 1-29.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-5] Chesang, G. (2009). Smallholder tea production and marketing in Kenya: A historical overview. African Economic History, 37, 69-96.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-6] Daniels, R. E. (1980). Pastoral values among vulnerable peasants: Can the Kipsigis of Kenya keep the home fires burning? In S. Abbott & J. van Willigen (Eds.), Predicting sociocultural change. University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-7] Davison, J. (Ed.). (1988). Agriculture, women, and land: The African experience. Westview Press.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-8] Duder, C. J. (1980). The settler response to the Indian crisis of 1923 in Kenya: Brigadier General Philip Wheatley and soldier settlement. Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 8(3), 349-371.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-9] East African Standard. (1960, July 15). A thousand years of providing comfort. Kenya National Archives BV/128/30.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-10] East African Standard. (1960, August 12). Tea development in African areas. Kenya National Archives.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-11] Elkins, C. (2005). Imperial reckoning: The untold story of Britain's gulag in Kenya. Henry Holt.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-12] Heyer, J. (1976). The origins of regional inequalities in smallholder agriculture in Kenya, 1920-1973. Journal of Development Studies, 12(3), 292-306.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-13] Kanogo, T. (1987). Squatters and the roots of Mau Mau, 1905-1963. James Currey.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-14] Kenya Land Commission. (1933). Report of the Kenya Land Commission. Crown Agents for the Colonies.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-15] Kenya National Archives. (1920). Agricultural Gazetteer: Land tenure in Kipsigis. DC/KER/6/1.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-16] Kenya National Archives. (1925). Annual reports, Kericho District. DC/KER/1/2.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-17] Kenya National Archives. (1950). Annual report: South Lumbwa District. KER/DC/1/30.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-18] Kenya National Archives. (1937). Annual report: Kericho District. DC/KER/1/10.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-19] Kenya National Archives. (1950). Political record book. DC/KER/3/18.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-20] Kenya National Archives. (1952). Tea development proposals. DC/KER/1/25/1952.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-21] Kenya National Archives. (1954). Settlement schemes. DC/KER/1/28/1954.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-22] Kenya National Archives. (1954). Kimulot tea scheme. DC/KER/1/30/1954.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-23] Kenya National Archives. (1957). African tea development. DC/KER/1/30/1957.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-24] Kenya National Archives. (1957). Nyanza Province tea development. NYANZA/2/9/1957.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-25] Kinyanjui, K. (1998). Household livelihoods in transition: The case of tea growing families in Kericho. Institute of Policy Analysis and Research.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-26] Kitching, G. (1980). Class and economic change in Kenya: The making of an African petite bourgeoisie 1905-1970. Yale University Press.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-27] Korir, B. (1976). An economic history of the tea industry in Kenya: 1924-1974 [Master's thesis, University of Nairobi].Google Scholar ↗

[refR-28] Kosgei, J. S. (1981). Commodity production, tea and social change in Kericho, Kenya 1895-1963 [PhD dissertation, Stanford University].Google Scholar ↗

[refR-29] Land Ordinance 859 Londiani Allotment File. Kenya National Archives.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-30] Mackenzie, F. D. (1991). Political economy of the environment, gender, and resistance under colonialism: Murang'a District, Kenya, 1910-1950. Canadian Journal of African Studies, 25(2), 226-256.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-31] North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-32] Okoth-Ogendo, H. W. O. (1991). Tenants of the crown: Evolution of agrarian law in Kenya. ACTS Press.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-33] Omwoyo, S. M. (2000). The agricultural changes in the Kipsigis land c. 1894-1963: An historical inquiry [PhD dissertation, Kenyatta University].Google Scholar ↗

[refR-34] Rodney, W. (1972). How Europe underdeveloped Africa. Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-35] Sorensen, A. (1988). Consequences and potentials of contract farming for women: The case of subsistence tea production among the Kipsigis in Kenya. CDR Working Papers, 88(2).Google Scholar ↗

[refR-36] Sorrenson, M. P. K. (1967). Land reform in the Kikuyu country: A study in government policy. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-37] Stichter, S. (1982). Migrant labour in Kenya: Capitalism and African response 1895-1975. Longman.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-38] Swynnerton, R. J. M. (1954). A plan to intensify the development of African agriculture in Kenya. Government Printer.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-39] Talbott, J. E. (1992). Settlers, subsistence, and smallholders: Agricultural development in Kenya, 1905-1940. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 25(3), 545-572.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-40] Towett, T. (1979). Oral history of the Kipsigis. Kenya Literature Bureau.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-41] Van Zwanenberg, R. M. A. (1975). Colonial capitalism and labour in Kenya 1919-1939. East Africa Literature Bureau.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-42] Von Bülow, D., & Sørensen, A. (1993). Gender and contract farming: Tea outgrower schemes in Kenya. Review of African Political Economy, 20(56), 38-52.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-43] Wolff, R. D. (1974). Britain and Kenya 1870-1930: The economics of colonialism. Transafrica Publishers.Google Scholar ↗