The Legacy of Colonial Policies on Agricultural Development in Independent Kenya; 1954 to 1992

Abstract

The LDSB schemes of 1961/62 formed the second phase and a continuation of the official colonial agricultural policy (Swynnerton Plan of 1954). However, the political situation in the immediate pre independence period derailed its implementation as the Land Development and Settlement Board (LDSB) was disbanded on June 1st 1963 and replaced with the Central Land Board. It is the Central Land Board that supported the implementation of five-year 'one-million-acre’ schemes for the land purchase in the former ‘scheduled’ areas. From this background, the paper examines how the colonial agricultural policy initiated in 1954 continues to serve as the main agricultural policy in independent Kenya today. Yet, policymakers can re-engineer a new appropriate agricultural policy to promote economic development in the 21st century. Thus, the study sheds light on the legacy of colonial agricultural policy in independent Kenya by examining a pioneering LDSB scheme in the Ndalat Settlement Scheme in Nandi County, Kenya. The paper adopts a historical descriptive design with a sample size of 30 key informants conveniently sampled from 16 farmers, four cooperative society officials, five pioneering settlement officials, two Ministry of Agriculture officials, and three retired agricultural officers. The interview was the main research instrument supplemented by archival and government policy documents. The findings indicated that all the LDSB schemes were part of the colonial agricultural policy to reduce the pressure on land resources and were experimental in design. This colonial agricultural policy is credited with settlement programs, large-scale agricultural development, commercialization of food crops, and the institutionalization of producer cooperatives and statutory marketing boards. The study concluded that this colonial policy still dominates agricultural development in independent Kenya today. The study recommends that there is a need to revamp the agricultural policy to support the socio-economic development in Kenya.