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Land tenure and agrarian change in Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Angelique Haugerud
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Extract

This article examines the relationship of formal and informal land-tenure systems to processes of agrarian change. Although it is often assumed that formal legal recognition of private rights in land can help to transform agriculture, causal links between particular tenure systems and agrarian processes are not easily demonstrated. It is difficult to separate the effects of land tenure from those of a host of other influences on agriculture. A number of studies have pointed to causal relationships among high population density, agricultural intensity, and individualisation of land rights (Podolefsky, 1987). Nevertheless, formal privatisation per se may have relatively little effect on processes of agrarian change, even in an economy where land is productive and scarce and where its distribution is relatively unequal.

Résumé

Bail foncier et changement agraire au Kenya

Cet article examine la relation des systèmes de bail foncier officiels et officieux par rapport au processus de changement agraire. Bien qu'on suppose fréquemment que la reconnaissance légale officielle des droits privés fonciers puisse faciliter la transformation de l'agriculture, il est difficile de démontrer les liens moins officiels entre les systèmes particuliers de bail et le processus agraire. Il est difficile de séparer les effets du bail foncier de ceux entraînés par une multitude d'autres influences sur l'agriculture. L'histoire agraire des hautsplateaux du Kenya est un cas particulier. Des données provenant de la Région Embu sont utilisées pour démontrer les problèmes analytiques impliqués.

Type
Access, control and use of resources in African agriculture
Information
Africa , Volume 59 , Issue 1: Access, control and use of resources in African Agriculture , January 1989 , pp. 61 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1989

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