Document(s) 6 of 15

The Context

Emphasizing gendered perceptions of landscape and resources ... stresses that resource utilization and provisioning responsibilities are not rooted in some male and female "essence", but are grounded in social relations and men's and women's historical relationship to the landscape ... Appreciating that men and women relate to their landscape and it resources differently does not lead to "ecofeminism" where women are posited as having an inherently intimate connection with nature. We need to explore the particular "class-gender effects" of the relationship between people and resources shaped through history, culture and social relations of production (Moore, D. 1993, p. 396).

Chapter Three:  Maragoli in Context

Theories of agrarian change in Africa normally treat agricultural intensification as a linear unidirectional process which gradually engulfs entire agrarian systems as human population increases Farmers' soil fertility practices have changed in response to migration, social differentiation and economic change, and to the interplay between changing social and ecological conditions. Despite rapid population growth, Luhya farmers manage their soils both more or less intensively in response to this interplay, and create a heterogeneous pattern of management in space and time. (Carter and Crowley 2000, p. i)

Maragoli covers an area of 198 square kilometres immediately north of the equator and on the eastern fringes of the Rift Valley's Lake Basin. The landscape is made up of intensely farmed smallholdings nestled among undulating hills and valleys, and a vast network of brooks and streams. The prevailing topographical features are the Maragoli hills, which rise to a height of over 1950 metres above sea level. The soils from the volcanic rock are richly red, and moderate to fertile — except in zones bordering the hills, where sandy soils and large rocks dominate the topography (Abwunza 1998, p. 11). Both the climate (with temperatures ranging from 14 to 32 degrees Celsius), and the well-distributed annual rainfall (1800–2200 millimetres), provide a favorable environment for sedentary agriculture and mixed farming, which support a wide variety of crops (such as tea, coffee, French beans, tomatoes, maize, napier grass, green collards, etc.) and different types of livestock. The most common crops are bananas, followed by maize, beans, sweet potatoes, napier grass, leafy green vegetables, and cassava, in descending order (Crowley and Carter 2000).

Maragoli is the home of the Avalogoli people, who were originally known to the colonial government as part of the larger cultural linguistic Bantu group, and more specifically as the Bantu Kavirondo Tribe (Abwunza 1998, p. 16). Today, the Kenyan government considers them a "sub-tribe" of the "main tribe" of the Luhya nation (Abwunza 1998, p. 17). Originally considered part of Kakamega District until 1991, Maragoli today is a Division of Vihiga District, Western Province, Kenya. With a reported 1085 people per square kilometre in 1996, Maragoli has a high rural population density (Republic of Kenya 1997). Approximately half the farms in Maragoli are less than one hectare in size, and fewer than 10 percent are larger than three hectares with all plots combined (Crowley and Carter 2000).

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Figure 3.1

Western Province and Kenya, East Africa.

Source: Abwunza (1995).

Figure 3.2

Maragoli, Western Kenya.

Source: Abwunza (1995).

Maragoli benefits from its close proximity to two cities: Kissumu, the third-largest city in Kenya (located on Lake Victoria), and Kakamega, the administrative capital for Western Kenya. This proximity to two urban centres provides access to a wide variety of agricultural and income-generating activities. Logoli women and men were originally cattle-keeping agriculturalists, but today they engage in diverse and multiple income-generating activities.

These activities range from the production of food and cash crops and the trade of agricultural produce and livestock, to the sale of used clothing, consumables, and pottery, to other formal and informal trading practices. Mbale, the largest market town in Maragoli and the new administrative headquarters for Vihiga District, is favourably located on the tarmac road that runs from Kissumu to Kakamega. This serves as a major transportation link and provides good potential access to urban centres and towns. All of these factors combined provide an environment in which Logoli women and men can simultaneously engage in agriculture, soil management, and income-generating activities as important livelihood strategies.

This geographically varied, agriculturally diverse, and economically dynamic area constitutes the setting in which Logoli women and men live and carry out diverse farming, soil management, income-generating, and livelihood strategies. Recognizing various context-specific factors is critical in understanding the local environment in which the research for this book was carried out. In this spirit, this chapter describes the context in which the research was done.

Moore argues that the state is internally differentiated and is itself a site of struggle over resources, land, and power among various actors (1993, p. 389). Insight can therefore be gained by looking at resource struggles, including those between local farmers and the state, within a historical, political-economic, and cultural context. This chapter describes the impact of history, political economy, and culture on local women's and men's decision-making in terms of natural resource management and other priorities that demand their limited time, energy, and resources. The chapter begins by reviewing aspects of Kenya's history that have affected gendered resource struggles. In particular, it provides an overview of the changing nature and importance of soil management and farming over time, and looks at the impacts of male out-migration and the introduction of the cash-based economy on people's capacity to manage their natural resources in Maragoli. It then highlights aspects of Kenya's political economy, reviewing the effects on Kenyan livelihoods of structural adjustment programs mandated by the World Bank and the IMF, investigating Maragoli's place in the Kenyan political economy, and examining Logoli women's status within local and national women's movements and their access to state and development resources. Before describing important aspects of Logoli culture and elements pertaining to natural resource management in detail, the chapter examines conceptualizations of culture more generally. These explorations are intended to provide a broad understanding of the multiple factors that impact sustainable soil management, farming, and livelihoods. This understanding is an essential prerequisite for exploring the complex set of constraints, opportunities, and dilemmas that men and women face in their everyday lives in their struggle to survive and sustain their local environments.

History

Initially, Kenya was the headquarters for the Imperial British East Africa Company, and was a hub for all the colonial economic and strategic activities in East Africa. Kenya's importance continued in the post-independence era, and it has often been described by Western governments and development institutions as one of Africa's most progressive, politically stable, and prosperous nations (Thomas-Slayter et al. 1995, p. 34) — a model state. The post-independence period also coincided with the cold-war era, during which Kenya was considered pro-Western and therefore strategically positioned in terms of receiving development assistance, especially in contrast to its more socialist-oriented neighbours. Today, Kenya remains a focal point for development and Western intervention. There are many development institutions, organizations, and agencies in Kenya, including a major United Nations complex in Nairobi. Until recently, Kenya was regarded as a model country open to the ways of 'modernization.' Its loss of model status is based on what is considered its failure to embrace and comply fully with reforms supported by the IMF and the World Bank, and, further, its 'propensity' towards over-population, corruption, ethnic rift, and environmental degradation.

Population density and land scarcity in particular are often blamed as the sole factors leading to soil degradation and unsustainable farming practices in Maragoli. However, there are other important historical, political-economic, and cultural factors that contribute to people's decisions to compromise their roles as farmers and sustainers of the soil. Two historical factors that contextualize these dynamics are: changes in soil management and farming practices; and male out-migration and the drive towards a cash-based economy.

Changes in soil management and farming practices

Farming and soil management have always been an integral part of Avalogoli society. In Maragoli, women have always been predominantly the farmers, and there have been distinct norms, idioms, and taboos regarding gendered roles and responsibilities on the farm. These norms have placed much of the responsibility for agricultural production on the shoulders of women, without necessarily giving them the power to make decisions. Keeping this in mind, historical changes in soil management and farming practices from the pre-colonial to the post-independence period are described below.

Pre-colonial Maragoli

Despite the substantial degree of spatial variability in the topography, key factors such as the high to moderate soil fertility, well-distributed annual rainfall, and excellent agricultural potential influenced the settlement of the area currently known as Maragoli in the seventeenth century (Wagner 1970, cited in Carter et al. 1998, p. 5). During pre-colonial times, Logoli farmers practiced labour-intensive and mixed farming practices including keeping cattle, cultivating a wide variety of crops (grains, bananas, tubers, and vegetables), and varying soil conservation and management practices (Carter and Crowley 1997, p. 8; Abwunza 1997, p. 18). Agricultural work was undertaken by communal work parties differentiated by gender. Women were responsible for most agricultural activities, while men were responsible for specific agricultural activities such as land clearing. Livestock was tended communally (sometimes by women), and women milked the cows.

Three techniques were utilized for soil management. The first principal means of restoring soil fertility was through rotating bush fallowing. This was carried out after a number of years of cultivation that involved crop rotation and on-farm inputs of organic fertilizer (usually livestock manure, household refuse and waste-water). (Carter et al. 1998, p. 7; Crowley and Carter 1996, p. 5–7). Rotational bush fallowing was mainly brought into use at the turn of the century. That was when shifting cultivation was transformed, and, instead, stationary residences and new plots, mainly for grain crops, were cleared and burned, then cultivated for several years before being left to fallow for three to four years (Crowley and Carter 2000). The second technique was crop rotation, which involved planting crops in sequence to take advantage of varying degrees of soil fertility. In the first year, the rotation generally consisted of finger millet and maize, intercropped during the long rains, followed by pulses, beans, lablab, and bambara nuts, grown during the short rains. In the second year, the plot was planted with sourghum and maize intercrop, followed by sourghum ratoon during the short rains. In the third year, either millet was planted again, or the soil was allowed to rest, or it was planted with sweet potatoes, followed by finger millet. During the following three or four years, the plot was left as pasture for cattle and sheep (Crowley and Carter 2000, pp. 6–7). The third technique, the use of on-farm inputs, involved organic fertilizers that were used mainly for fixed crops grown close to the homestead, such as vegetables and bananas. The on-farm inputs consisted of household refuse, chicken droppings, manure from nearby livestock enclosures, and waste and rainwater from the house (Crowley and Carter 2000, p. 6).

The colonial period

In the colonial era, the Kenyan economy depended heavily on agricultural production (Nzomo and Staudt 1994, p. 418). In Kenya, the colonial conceptualization of African agricultural and social practices as 'backward' and 'inefficient,' and Western-based knowledge as 'modern' and 'efficient,' led to interventions and policies of land alienation and soil conservation that have had dramatic effects on the way in which people do farming, where they do farming, and their livelihood strategies (Mackenzie 1998, 1995b). When combined with high incidence of male out-migration, these changes further entrenched patriarchal ideology and brought about drastic changes in the division of labour between men and women, with women shouldering increasing labour burdens in terms of farming and soil management. Colonial policies sanctioned men's control over women's labour and its product, while colonial land reforms placed title deeds under men's names. These changes had major consequences in terms entrenching men's authority over women.

A major change in farming practice that occurred during the colonial period in Maragoli was the introduction of the iron hoe, which displaced the wooden digging stick (Carter et al. 1998, p. 10).

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Soil fertility declined as farmers fallowed land less frequently and grew more maize (a heavy soil feeder) in response to the growing market for the crop (Carter et al. 1998, p. 11). Colonial officials took an increasing interest in soil management and conservation in response to the negative environmental consequences of the increase in both intensity of cultivation and area cultivated (as more marginal land was brought into production) (Carter et al. 1998. p. 11; Carter and Crowley 1997, p. 9). These environmental changes alarmed colonial officials, who, in the 1930s, enacted soil conservation campaigns to encourage the use of boma manure, green manure, and compost pits. In addition, people were conscripted to reforest areas that were considered deteriorated and to dig erosion protection works (Carter and Crowley 1997, p. 9). The extensive terracing campaigns were met with considerable resistance in Maragoli and other areas of Kenya (Mackenzie 1998, 1991). These policies were subsequently relaxed during World War II due to the lack of availability of male labour (Carter et al. 1998, p. 11).

In the late 1940s and 1950s, efforts were renewed, although unsuccessfully, to influence soil management practices through more campaigns. These included the push to 'modernize' techniques by constructing terraces, incorporating grass filter strips, afforesting, and growing more food crops (in light of the reduced incomes of households at the end of the war) (Carter and Crowley 1997, p. 45).

The post-independence period

In the post-independence period, development plans in Kenya gave priority to the agricultural production of export and cash crops. Consequently, there was a dramatic increase in farming activities focussing on the production of cash crops grown primarily or entirely for the market or for export (Carter et al. 1998, p. 15). While women's labour input into farming, including the cultivation of cash crops, was essential to this strategy, men controlled the marketing of these crops and, hence, controlled the cash received from their sale. In addition, while women shouldered major labour burdens for food and cash production, they did not benefit from male-targeted technological advancements, government subsidies, or extension services.

Farmers who could gain access to or afford to purchase inorganic fertilizers (through their participation in the cultivation of cash crops such as tea) began to include them in the management of their soils. Farmers began to purchase exotic dairy cattle sold in large numbers by European farmers after independence. To feed the cattle, farmers begun to grow napier grass.

Because of the continued emphasis placed on the cash-based economy after independence, men continued to migrate to urban centres in search of waged employment.

Male out-migration and the cash economy

The Hut (1901) and Poll (1910) taxes imposed by the colonial government, which all Kenyan households were forced to pay, created the need for cash. This need for income generation, forced male out-migration in search of waged labour, and played a role in exacerbating a process of socioeconomic differentiation in Maragoli (Carter et al. 1998, p. 8; Crowley and Carter 2000).

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Through access to education and cash, men gained seniority within the lineage, accumulating property, status, prestige, and power (Carter et al. 1998, p. 9). Increased social differentiation became rooted in individual success in the market economy through the accumulation of monetary wealth and land, and the ability to hire other people's labour (Carter et al. 1998, p. 9). As in the case of Central Province, described by Mackenzie, a class of wealthier peasants emerged, consisting of chiefs, sub-chiefs, members of the Local Native Council, those with close ties to the colonial state, and those with substantial off-farm income (1995, p. 18). This new status provided them opportunities to access to land, labour, and soil management and farming inputs.

The extensive out-migration of adult men had a significant impact on gender relations within the household. One of the major consequences was the expansion of women's economic and social roles and responsibilities. But, although women acquired men's roles, they often did not acquire the authority and power that previously went along with these roles. The out-migration of men also resulted in the emergence of women-headed households. In particular, it impacted the availability of men's labour for agricultural production and soil management, and, hence, the gendered division of labour on farms in Maragoli. As described in Chapter Five, the out-migration of men increased women's labour burdens on the farm, in the household, and in other aspects of life. However, men continued to control the marketing of cash crops, even from a distance, and therefore the increase in women's labour did not necessarily result in women's control over the products of that labour. In situations where women were not receiving cash remittances from their out-mitigated spouses, they felt intense pressure to earn cash.

Another major change that occurred over time involved the growing importance of cash in an increasingly market-based economy, as one Logoli farmer describes:

The greatest change in Maragoli [over time] is the colonial government coming in. For instance, the idea of going to work in the morning is a foreign idea — the idea of earning a salary is a foreign idea ... the change you see is the Western economy ... people have to find money, trade, and take produce to the market. They used to take porridge to the market those days, but that was on market days and they exchanged things: that was barter. But now there is the money economy. It's doing some good and a lot of harm. I am not one of those people who pretend that all of us are taking in that system, that this country will be any better. In fact it will be worse. I am very cautious. But people are being changed because if you don't have money, you are poor. (L043)

Hence, cash-based transactions began to play an increasingly significant role in people's lives; in particular, affecting their ability to access resources and mobilize labour for sustaining their soil and their farms.

Political-economy

Contextualizing local constraints and problems within broader political-economic processes, and in terms of the way they affect access to local and state resources and services, is critical to understanding the complex set of circumstances facing women and men in their farming, soil management, and livelihood strategies. In this section, some general aspects are reviewed before focusing attention on specific factors that have contributed to Maragoli's problems — in particular, Maragoli's place in Kenya's political geography, the role of structural adjustment programs, and Logoli women's place in Kenyan politics.

The top three foreign exchange earners in Kenya are tourism, coffee, and tea (Nzomo and Staudt 1994, p. 425). Agricultural production has always been central to Kenya's economy and constitutes about one-third of the gross domestic product (GDP) and nearly three-fourths of its export earnings (Nzomo and Staudt 1994, p. 425). In Maragoli, agriculture and livestock are the main sources of income in the formal sector (Republic of Kenya 1997, p. 30). In addition, the informal and non-formal sectors play an important role in economic life and provide an important avenue for generating income in such activities as carpentry, petty trading, brickmaking, etc. However, farmers are working harder and getting less in return for their labour. In addition, there are other political-economic factors that have contributed to the problems that women and man face in their everyday lives. According to Thomas-Slayter et al.:

Certain problems have arisen from fundamental contradictions and dilemmas in Kenya's political and economic life. These problems can be observed in class and ethnic competition for national resources, a middle class under increasing economic pressures, an overweening bureaucracy, declining terms of trade, increasing international debt, and a political and economic vulnerability to outside forces. In addition, there is growing concern about Kenya's increasingly unbalanced power structure. (1995, p.38)

Because of these factors, farmers in Maragoli lack equitable access to local and state resources for sustainable soil management, farming, and livelihood sustenance.

Maragoli's place in Kenya's political landscape

Kenya's ethnoregional balance of power and the inequitable distribution of resources among its diverse ethnoregional groups have played a significant role in the political-economic structures that have supported rural development in Western Kenya, and in other parts of the country. These factors have also contributed to the problems facing women and men in Maragoli in their everyday lives.

During colonial rule in Kenya, all indigenous ethnic groups suffered inequities such as alienation from land, conscripted labour, the establishment of native reserves, and laws against African cash crop production and trade (Abwunza 1997, p. 17). However, colonial requirements for labour were driven by a division of labour influenced by the construction of ethnic 'identities.' Ethnic and local boundaries institutionalized under colonial rule defined new areas for competition over state resources such as employment, development programs, and missionary education, and encouraged the rhetoric of 'tribal' categories (Haugerud 1993, p. 124). For instance, one Logoli farmer described a situation in which the Kikuyu were considered good civil servants, the Kalenjin were considered good police and soldiers, Asian people were considered good engineers, builders, business people, and bankers, and the Logoli were considered good domestic workers and nannies (L048). This division of labour left a legacy of bias in terms of the preferential employment of certain ethnic groups in essentialized roles, according to 'ethnic' identity.

In the post-independence period, Kenyatta's government favoured the Kikuyu peoples in terms of political-economic resources and power, from the time of independence to 1978 (Haugerud 1993, p. 39). During the 1980s, the investment in public infrastructure, rural health, and extension services in Western Province was greater than ever before. Although investments generally favoured the Large Rift Valley Province, they also, to a lesser extent, benefited Western Province ( Haugerud 1993, p. 39). Today, popular perceptions support the notion that Moi's agricultural policies favour the interests of his own grain-growing constituency, and that other ethnoregional groups are losing out. These other groups are disadvantaged in terms of access to state resources, financial and legal protections, finance capital, public positions, land, and education. (Haugerud 1993, p. 40).

Despite the fact that the Luhya are the second-largest ethnoregional group in Kenya (the Kikuyu are the largest, and the Luo are the third-largest), popular perceptions regarding ethnoregional distribution suggest that there is an inherent bias in Kenya's national politics and economic policies — a bias that limits the Logoli people's access to state resources and services. For instance, one elder Logoli farmer describes the present situation pertaining to access to employment as compared to the colonial situation in Maragoli:

the government doesn't seem to have a plan for us, but you can't allow people to just grow up together and be jobless ... you see, when there is nothing to do, there is nothing to motivate them to work ... In our time, every student had to choose a career: railway, post office, medical, civil service — and they chose and they were all absolved, or they went to technical schools ... but now, I don't know what you can do. (L043)

The bias in the state's allocation of its resources within Kenya's political geography is felt by many farmers. The inequitable distribution of resources among different ethnoregional groups does not support sustainable agricultural production and soil management, or ensure livelihood sustenance in Maragoli.

Furthermore, there is growing dissatisfaction that only a small minority of Kenyans — including owners of large-scale lands outside of Maragoli, as well as the elite, and businesspeople, all of whom have access to Kenya's political machinery — are in a position to access some of the benefits from global economic linkages. There is a striking gap between the economically rich and poor in Kenya. The economically poorest 40 percent of the Kenyan population earn less than 10 percent of GDP, while the economically richest 20 percent earn more than 22 times the income of the poorest (Thomas-Slayter et al. 1995, p. 38). People with positions in government or with close access to government ministries have been able to accumulate a great deal of wealth (Nzomo and Staudt 1995, p. 418).

There is also an uneven distribution of land among and within various ethnoregional groups. This uneven distribution emanates from past colonial policies that did two things. They established huge farms and ranches in the White Highlands, allocating these properties to a mere two percent of the population (Nzomo and Staudt 1994, p. 418). They also established "native reserves," in which population density was acute (in Maragoli, the North Kavirondo reserve):

Kenya's dualistic land tenure pattern emerged during the colonial period which gave rise to two distinct form of property, namely large-scale or estate farms and small-holder farms (Ikiara et al. 1993, p. 88). Today large-scale farms comprise mixed farms, plantations and ranches that were formally owned by Europeans. Although there was a major sub-division and transfer of large-scale farms in the 1960s, these sub-division and resettlement schemes only affected about a quarter of the best land, only 3 per cent of total agricultural land and only 20 per cent of Kenya' total population (Ikiara et al. 1993, p. 89). Further, the schemes favoured certain ethnoregional groups over others. Ownership of the large-scale property was passed onto the elite strata of the population after independence made up of businesspeople, high-ranking politicians and civil servants (Ikiara et al. 1993, p. 88). Currently, large-scale and estate farms in the former White Highlands produce a large proportion of food production for internal markets. (Ikiara et al. 1993, p. 88).

In the period leading to independence in 1963 and shortly thereafter, land was redistributed to those deemed "progressive farmers" and legal title was given to men. With the departure of the colonial settlers from the White Highlands, the new government-initiated resettlement plans were once again aimed at men. Today, 80 percent of the Kenyan population lives in rural areas, with most farmers cultivating plots averaging two hectares each. At the same time, more than 40 percent of agricultural land constitutes large farms averaging 1000 hectares, and supporting less than one percent of total farming households (Ikiara et al. 1993, p. 88). These types of large farms are not found in Maragoli. Moreover, Logoli farmers believe there is an ethnoregional bias in terms of the distribution of extension services.

These types of bias, inherent in Kenya's political geography, give those in Maragoli inequitable access to state resources and global linkages. The situation is further exacerbated by structural adjustment programs, and by women's inequitable access to state political structures and resources.

Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs)

'Austerity' measures, known as structural adjustment programs (SAPs), negotiated between the Kenyan state and the World Bank and IMF, have brought about drastic changes. These changes can only be described as externally constructed economic shocks designed to 'adjust' the Kenyan economy in order to meet the needs of international debtors (Gitobu and Kamau 1994, p. 58). After a decade of good economic performance following independence, SAPs were formulated to improve balance of payments, in order to allow Kenya to service international debt accrued during an economic crisis. This crisis was brought on by externally driven economic factors such as an increase in oil prices during 1973–74 and 1979–80, deteriorating terms of trade for primary commodity exports, and rising interest rates (Nzomo and Staudt 1994, p. 428). These factors were exacerbated by inflation, droughts, and declining exports (Bigsten and Ngung'u 1992; Ngugi 1994). These crises forced Kenya to turn to the IMF and the World Bank to finance its balance of payments deficits. As a result, Kenya had to accept the economic policy conditions imposed by these institutions (Nzomo and Staudt 1994, p. 429). Instituted loosely in the 1970s, and more firmly in the early to mid-1980s, the primary objectives of structural adjustment programs were to rekindle economic growth and production, control inflation, increase international competitiveness, and increase foreign exchange earnings to repay debt (Ongile 1994; Kinoti 1994). These objectives were pursued through a broad range of monetary, fiscal, trade, and institutional policies and reforms. These policies and reforms included cuts in government expenditure, public sector employment and real wages; decontrol of price structures, including food and agricultural input subsidies; export promotion, and an increase in agriculture prices; introduction of user fees for public services such as education and health; currency devaluation; credit reform through an increase in interest rates; and privatization of parastatal institutions (Kinoti 1994; Mackenzie 1993).

While, at a macroeconomic level of analysis, economic indicators may suggest positive improvement in the performance of the Kenyan economy by the standards set by the World Bank and the IMF, the implementation of SAPs has had major impacts and gender-related consequences on both rural and urban households. It has exacerbated environmental degradation and stress in people's everyday lives (Kenyinga and Ibutu 1994). In particular, the costs of SAPs are disproportionately borne by women, who find themselves with intense labour burdens and an increased reliance on cash to make ends meet. The need for cash has been heightened because of the increased cost of food and consumables, the spiraling costs associated with education and health services, the elimination of subsidies for agricultural inputs, and an erosion of real earnings and real wages. Three aspects of SAPs are especially significant to agricultural production and soil management: the devaluation of the Kenyan shilling; the changes in agricultural input and output prices; and the shifting of the costs of social services to local people.

Devaluation of the Kenyan shilling

The devaluation of Kenyan currency has drastically lowered the purchasing power of individuals, particularly in terms of imported goods. Money no longer buys the quantity of goods and services it used to in the past (Gitobu and Kamau 1994). Devaluation not only erodes the real incomes of farmers, but, as a consequence, encourages male out-migration to urban centres to seek waged employment (Hegedus 1994, p. 75). If employment is found, this does not necessarily enable men to subsist on their wages. This leads to situations in which a woman has to subsidize the wage earner. Consequently, women's labour burdens are increased (Meena 1991, p. 170).

Agricultural input and output prices

The architects of SAPs assume that, as agriculture becomes profitable for farmers through increased producer prices for export crops, they will be more interested in investing in soil management (Mearns 1991, cited in Mackenzie 1993; Gladwin 1991). However, other SAP policies have undermined this assumption by increasing the cost of, and decreasing financial subsidies for, agricultural inputs (Hegedus 1994, p. 73; Ongile 1994, p. 28; Mackenzie 1993, p. 77). Furthermore, these policies favour large-scale estate farms and put smaller farms at a disadvantage — especially those with insufficient land (Mackenzie 1993, p. 77; Ikiara et al. 1993, p. 88). In Maragoli, most farming households cannot meet livelihood needs entirely through farming and must rely on off-farm income to purchase food. Farmers who are able to grow export crops are in a precarious situation as increased prices for export crops are undercut by the increased cost of goods such as food and agricultural inputs. SAPs have also removed subsidies for agricultural and soil management inputs. At the same time, the devaluation of the Kenyan shilling, has increased the price of inputs such as chemical fertilizers, seeds, and implements.

Women's roles as farmers have also been ignored in the agricultural components of SAPs, in three key ways. First, agricultural incentives have focused on export crop producers and ignored subsistence and local cash crops, which all women grow to a greater or lesser extent (Ongile 1994, p. 28). Second, although women carry out primarily agricultural production, they do not necessarily control the proceeds of their labour and use it to purchase inputs, implements, land, and labour. SAP policies call for increased credit to help farmers obtain the inputs for soil management. This excludes the majority of women because they do not own title deeds to land, which are a prerequisite for access to credit. Third, although Kenya has not extracted an excessive amount of hidden tax from farmers through artificially low agricultural prices, the government controls agricultural marketing through parastatal agencies of mixed efficiency, and through officially recognized cooperative societies (Nzomo and Stuadt 1994, p. 425). According to Nzomo and Staudt:

Male control of these institutions undermines women's ability to profit from the fruits of their labour by extending men's control to incomes as well. Thus the multiplication of parastatal agencies is in part a multiplication of male patronage positions and control opportunities. (Nzomo and Stuadt 1994, p. 425)

Shifting the costs of social services

In the past, despite inherent male bias, Kenya prided itself as having one of the most successful education systems in Africa and heavily invested in education (Hegedus 1994; Gitobu and Kamau 1994; Bigsten and Ndung'u 1992). However, SAPs have defined these education expenditures as 'unsustainable' and instituted cost-sharing measures. This means that while the government continues to pay teachers' salaries and fund basic facilities, local women and men now pay for furniture and buildings as well as student uniforms, transportation, and supplies (Gitobu and Kamau 1994; Hegedus 1994; Bigsten, and Ndung'u 1992). In effect, this has increased the school fees that local people pay in real terms. Combined with people's decreased purchasing power, these increased school expenses have made education unaffordable, especially for economically poor farmers. Despite these increased costs and uncertainty about whether formal schooling will lead to employment or regular-waged income, education remains a top priority for Logoli women and men, as Chapter Seven discusses.

The negotiation of SAPs by Kenyan policymakers and international finance institutions aims to change the framework of the economy and decentralize the state significantly. This process has major gender consequences in local contexts. It has placed tremendous burdens on the shoulders of women by shifting the cost of social services. Despite this major impact, women in Kenya have virtually no voice in the negotiation of SAPs or in subsequent policy reform (Nzomo and Staudt 1994, p. 416). This is a strange paradox, since women in Maragoli, for instance, are predominately the farmers in this agriculture-based economy, are increasingly the providers for their families, and are actively engaged in diverse economic activities in order to make ends meet, as further chapters will demonstrate.

Logoli women's place in Kenya's politics

Although women contribute most of the labour for agricultural production, the management of their natural resources (including their soils), and the work and responsibility for the viability of their households, they are not equitably represented in decision-making bodies within Kenya's political machinery. Nzomo and Staudt contend that "men control Kenya's formal political machinery more thoroughly then elsewhere in Africa" (1994, p. 416) and, therefore, women are nearly invisible in state policymaking. This is substantiated by the fact that women in Maragoli do not see themselves or their interests equitably represented in state politics. It is also consistent with the beliefs of women in other parts of Kenya.

Logoli women see themselves as excluded from local and regional politics, economic opportunities, and the benefits of global linkages. They do not recognize that their votes in elections count for something, and that the government counts on their approval during elections (in exchange for promises that are not often fulfilled), regardless of their class or status. Indeed, there is a long historical legacy of exclusion from state politics and resources. Colonial policies, state rhetoric, and development discourse have, in the past, viewed women as a peripheral social stratum and as a population base that did not require formal political or economical policies to address their needs and rights (Nzomo and Staudt 1994, p. 419). Under colonial rule, politics were considered men's domain, and the colonial state sanctioned men as owners of property and controllers of women's labour (Nzomo and Staudt 1994, p. 417). Later, gender-neutral development and state policies assumed that the economic success of rural households would be shared among husbands and wives. This assumption ignored the fact that almost one-third of rural smallholdings in Kenya are headed by women, and income is not necessarily pooled among spouses. Also, in a situation in which polygamy is practised, a husband's resources and loyalties are distributed among his wives (Nzomo and Staudt 1994, p. 417), a group that sometimes includes both official and "unofficial" wives.

As in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the promotion of women's groups within Kenya's national development plans grew out of WID programs following the 1975 United Nations declaration of the International Decade of Women (1975–1985). It was further reinforced by Kenyatta's ideology of harambee — community self-help efforts in which people contribute resources (such as money and labour) to build schools, clinics, and other institutions. It prompted the establishment of the Women's Bureau, located within Kenya's Ministry of Culture and Social Services — a strategy to improve the situation of economically poor rural women (Abwunza 1997; Nzomo and Staudt 1994).

Although women's programs accounted for only 0.1 percent of total government expenditures between 1978 and 1982 (Nzomo and Staudt 1994, p. 421), the establishment of the Women's Bureau has had a powerful impact in changing the perception of local women's groups through state and international endorsement. The successful mobilization of thousands of women around locally organized groups has also given local women some degree of visibility in political structures normally dominated by men. The importance of women's groups and women in managing their natural resources is slowly but surely gaining recognition by international donors and research organizations that previously channeled resources solely to men. However, while the formation of thousands of women's groups across the country under the umbrella of the Women's Bureau has increased the visibility of women's struggles, the Women's Bureau has not been able to gain leverage to influence state policies, because it has lacked authority and power within Kenya's political machinery.

In Maragoli, women see their involvement in women's groups as a "good" thing. They draw upon the customary ideology of solidarity and the norms of gender-based work groups to justify their involvement in women's groups. In addition, they draw upon the state sanctioning and international endorsement of women's groups to defend their engagement in group activities. However, there are several obstacles that limit women's participation in these groups. These include women's inability to afford group membership fees, and lack of information regarding the predetermined structural rules governing their involvement (such as formal registration; registration fees; and the need to nominate people for positions such as chairperson, secretary, and treasurer). As Chapter Eight illustrates, it is often economically poor, young and socially stigmatized women who do not have access to membership in women's groups.

Culture and society

Local culture is an important factor in the local dynamics of natural resource management. Scholars working in sub-Saharan Africa have demonstrated that struggles over resources are simultaneously struggles over cultural meanings (Moore 1996, 1993; Carney 1996; Carney and Watts 1990; Schroeder 1996; Berry 1997, 1989). Struggles over resources occur through cultural processes:

These processes may, in turn, effect structural change or material [and environmental] transformation. On the one hand, ideology does social work insofar as meanings mobilize action, shape social identities, and condition understandings of collective interests. Cultural meanings are constitutive forces in historically specific relations of production and are not simply a reflection of a material base. Productive inequalities become naturalized through cultural understandings of social hierarchy that encourage popular consent. On the other hand, struggles over symbolic processes are themselves conflicts over material relations of production, the distribution of resources in society, and ultimately power. Meanings may sustain prevailing productive inequalities. ... But ... dominant meanings are always contested, never totalizing, and always unstable, even when they encourage degrees of subordinate people's 'consent' to particular forms of oppression. (Moore 1993, p. 383)

Rather than conceptualizing 'culture' as the "exotic trappings to the nuts and bolts of 'underlying' structures" (Moore 1996, p. 126), and as something that is fixed and rigid, it is better to look at it as a social and historical construction that is dynamic and fluid. Culture is continually and actively being created and recreated, and interpreted and re-interpreted by women and men (Gupta and Ferguson 1997b, p. 14). Local people actively and strategically construct their own gendered identities within natural resources management. However, these identities are simultaneously constructed in relation to global processes that are involved in the production of 'local' identities (Gupta and Ferguson 1997b, p. 14), and 'development' discourse.

'Culture' is a site of common understandings of sharing and commonality as well as a site of difference and contestation (Gupta and Ferguson 1997b). It is open to multiple, subjective, and gendered understandings. When viewing 'culture' through a gendered lens, it becomes possible to ask how the societal and gendered 'rules of the game' were made, by whom, and for whom (Gupta and Ferguson 1997b p. 4), while recognizing that they are constructed in the midst of inequitable power relations and hierarchies. Power is central to the conceptualization of culture, and is inseparable from the dominant construction of gender relations.

Women and men invest differentially and strategically in various 'cultural' meanings, and struggles over meaning are as much part of resource relations, as are struggles over surplus or the labour process and property relations (Berry 1988, p. 66, cited in Moore 1993, p. 383). As discussed in Chapter 1, relations of production and relations in production — the former understood as property relations; the latter as labour processes (Carney and Watts 1990, p. 217) — are central to understanding natural resource management issues. In this vein, throughout this case study, specific aspects of culture and society pertaining to land, labour, income generation, and social institutions will be examined. Before proceeding, it is useful to consider one underlying element of Avalogoli culture that permeates gender relations in Maragoli — namely, patriarchy.

Patriarchy

Cultural discourse cannot be viewed in isolation from gender relations, or from patriarchy. Patriarchy is a dominant ideology in Logoli culture and society. However, patriarchy in Maragoli is not mere ideology; it is observable and operative in action, in ideas, and within the gender politics of conjugal relations (Schroeder 1996; Moore 1978). It not only has very real effects on social behaviour and gender relations, but also places very real limits on what is negotiable and what is not. Hence, the ideologies and structures of patriarchy are inextricably linked.

Within this patriarchal "order," Logoli women reproduce patriarchal discourse around gender relations, seemingly reinforcing existing power relations. But, as Moore has suggested, the more entrenched, pervasive and 'rational' organizing cultural concepts appear, the more incongruities — as manifested in negotiation and resistance — can be found behind everything "that seems apparent, and what in turn is hidden behind that" (1978, p. 38). Indeed, in Maragoli, within seemingly rigid rules of conduct, there exists room to maneuver, and space for interpretation and transformation. Patriarchy is not monolithic. And one cannot ignore women's power, agency, and struggles in making room to maneuver within inequitable gender power relations.

Women are expected to show deference to patriarchal authority or suffer the consequences, namely 'punishment' through violence (Abwunza 1997, p. 22), and the weighty sanctioning of being labeled "bad" Logoli women. Women do indeed strike a posture of deference to patriarchy in public, upholding men's roles as "commanders." By doing so, they create room to maneuver so they can pursue their own interests, and push boundaries. Knowing the difference between what Scott calls public transcripts and hidden transcripts (1990) is useful in understanding the gender division of labour. This distinction offers a way of exploring the spaces and gaps between norms and practice — as spaces that involve continuous struggles over meanings between the patriarchal "order" (manifested in norms regarding gender relations) and the counter-narratives, incongruities, negotiations, and contestations. Considering the complexities that thrive in the politically charged context of the household "scrambles" ideas about a monolithic patriarchal cultural "order," as well as romanticized ideas about overt resistance without considering its very real consequences.

Hence, instead of engaging in an outright contestation and overt resistance to relations of domination, women reproduce patriarchal ideology in a strategy that allows them to pursue their own projects, without the intense scrutinization and social sanctioning that often results from outright contestation. Abwunza contends that "theirs is a form of political agency not really accessible via conceptual approaches previously applied in many East African gender analyses" (1995, p. 34). Through "back-door" decisions (Abwunza 1995), women influence local processes and exert their power in a sophisticated strategy that allows them some degree of freedom of movement, but which nonetheless continues to reproduce the structures of patriarchy that dominate their lives.

Conclusions

By contextualizing broader structural factors and processes — focusing on aspects of history, political economy, and culture and society, and their relation to state and international development policies — it is possible to move beyond simplistic interpretations about soil degradation and unsustainable farming. This contextualization makes it possible to better understand the interplay of factors that shape the complex, gendered micropolitics of land, labour and soils, how they are shaped by these broader processes, and, ultimately, how they contribute to an increasingly stressful local environment in Maragoli. For instance, this chapter has illustrated that key historical interventions and policies, which have set into motion significant changes in soil management and farming practices, have also brought about significant changes in gender relations and livelihood strategies. Similarly, Maragoli's place in Kenya' political-geography, structural adjustment programs, and women's place in Kenyan politics are important political-economic factors that have created some of the problems and constraints that farmers increasingly face in their everyday lives. An ever-changing, yet heavily patriarchal, culture and society enforce and regulate gendered rules and obligations in favour of men, and are key factors that define the parameters of gender relations, and farming and soil management practices. Recognizing the multiple interplay of these broader processes — in both contributing to and exacerbating people's everyday problems, constraints, and lack of access to resources — makes it possible to begin to comprehend the complexity of local resource management and understand people's everyday struggles to survive and to sustain their environments. Based on these broader contexts, the chapters that follow draw on ethnography and photographs as rich mediums for exploring the complexity of farmers' everyday lives and the gendered dynamics of the micropolitics of resource struggles. In doing so, they animate and give meaning to local soil management and farming practices, and ultimately bring into focus what is normally hidden and silenced in conventional approaches.

34 This information is based on Crowley and Carter's survey of 105 households in 1995 (Crowley and Carter 1995, p. 1) and is further substantiated by farmers' narratives in this study.

35 While the mouldboard plow was introduced in other areas of Kenya, the topography of Maragoli proved to be too steep and varied, and land holdings too small, to permit its use (Carter et al. 1998, p. 10).

36 Male out-migration took place in search of waged labour in colonial railway and road works (1896-1913), sisal and tea estates (1920-1930), gold mines and coffee estates (1930s), as well as in military employment, and construction, domestic, tourist, professional and government work (since the turn of the century). Male out-migration has continued to increase in importance (Crowley and Carter 2000).

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