Traversing State, Agribusinesses, and Farmers’ Land Discourse in Kenyan Commercial Intensive Agriculture

Abstract

From a qualitative study of sugarcane production in Chemelil(western Kenya) and insights drawn from the Kenyan land reform enacted in 2012, this study contends that the goal of land reform to provide farmers with certainty of rights to land to invest in and benefit from agriculture is heavily weakened by the farmers’ lack of control over agricultural inputs. Land reform and intensive agriculture, such as sugarcane production, share the same market-based land discourse, where land is considered an environmental asset to be harnessed efficiently for high productivity. Although this discourse supports the application of high inputs for maximum agricultural outputs, it has also eroded farmers’ power and control over their lands. This loss of power and control occurs through the supply of high-cost agricultural inputs from external sources, such as state research agencies and the Chemelil Sugar Company. The control of inputs by sources external to farmers stifles possible farm-based innovations that could reduce farming costs. The chapter, thus, contends that, although land reform aims at farmers’ utmost benefit from land, the farmer’s lack of control over agricultural inputs limits the benefits they derive from land use for intensive agriculture; this is especially true in the case of small-scale farmers.