Farm Crime Victimisation in Kenya: A Routine Activity Approach

Abstract

Farmers globally and Kenyan farmers in particular are facing a number of challenges stemming from continuous change in the social-cultural, economic, and ecological context of farming and a concomitant rise in crimes against farms. While research has been carried out on the theft of cattle and crops, much of it has concentrated on the nature, cause and extent of farm crime, crime prevention, and reporting behaviours, and comparatively little has focussed on applying criminological theory to the situation in Kenya or any other region of the world. Thus, this paper uses Routine Activity Theory to explain what makes certain farms, farmers, and farm property more likely to be victimised. In general, we find support for the basic tenets of the theory as a way to contextualise our understanding of farm crime in the various agricultural regions of Kenya, and suggest that it can be employed for framing farm crime within the diverse geographies and societies of the world today. Indeed, the rapidly changing social-economic environment of agriculture has generated an increase in opportunistic offenders, and the shattering of traditional natural and informal controls that prevented most farm crimes in the past. Both changes create increased visibility and accessibility to valuable and high demand farm properties.

Victimization and Fear of Crime in Rural Tanzania

“…In rural areas, the high number of thefts is favored by the fact that safety precautions are rarely taken, and areas used for agricultural purposes and, in some cases, areas belonging to the residential area (for example, open kitchens) are easily accessible. These considerations lead to the theory of Routine Activity Approach, according to which, in addition to a motivated offender, the existence of a suitable target and the absence of a capable guardian (persons or security measures) are the causes of criminal offenses (Bunei & Barasa, 2017, Ceccato, 2016. In this context, the mere visibility and accessibility of an object play a role, because they are the ones which make a potential perpetrator aware of a crime opportunity.…”

Conducting Online Crime and Safety Surveys with British Farmers

“…It is possible that the use of a ROCS in areas such as South America, Africa, and Asia are heavily impacted by some of the issues explored in this paper, including poor connectivity, low levels of computer or smartphone ownership, or other socio-economic factors. As a result, the pathway toward widespread use of a ROCS in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia remains largely untravelled (Bunei & Barasa, 2017; Neubacher et al, 2019; Zekiwos-Gichamo et al, 2019).…”

Utilizing the National Incident-Based Reporting System to Further Our Understanding of Agricultural Theft

“…Though agricultural crime is a relatively broad term and inclusive of many types of offending, the bulk of research on the problem focuses on theft from agricultural operations (Barclay & Donnermeyer, 2011). These operations are reliant upon the use of high-value machinery, specialized tools, and other supplies that may be attractive to motivated offenders (Bunei & Barasa, 2017;Osborne, 2015;Mears, Scott & Bhati, 2007). The products produced by them, such as crops and livestock, present additional targets.…”

“…Finally, NIBRS can be utilized to develop dependent measures when testing the applicability of criminological theories to the crime of agricultural theft. To date, both routine activity theory (Bunei & Barasa, 2017;Bunei et al, 2013;Mears et al, 2007;Osborne, 2015) and social disorganization theory (Osborne, 2015) have been explored, with results indicating that each theory may be useful to furthering our understanding of the problem. With one exception (Osborne, 2015), these studies have focused upon micro-level investigations.…”