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Land and territory: the interface between two systems of land tenure, Murang'a District, Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Fiona Mackenzie
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Extract

The objective of this paper is to examine the nature of the interface between two systems of land tenure in an area of smallholdings, Murang'a District, Central Province, Kenya. The first, the ng'undu system, evolved in the fertile, dissected plateau area east of the Nyandarua Range since the Kikuyu migrated there in the early seventeenth century (Muriuki, 1974: 62–82; Government of Kenya, 1929: 6); the second, a freehold system of individual land tenure, was introduced by the colonial state in the mid-1950s as a political instrument to counter the force of Mau Mau (Lamb, 1974; Leys, 1975). The latter system, it was intended, would replace the former, thereby laying the basis for an intensification of African agriculture which was also, under the Swynnerton Plan, to include production for the urban and export markets (Heyer, 1981; House and Killick, 1983). Commitment to this same principle continues to inform present agricultural policy (Government of Kenya, 1984a, Kenya Development Plan 1984–1988, p. 187; 1986,: 88).

Résumé

Terres et territoire: la coexistence entre deux systemes de bail foncier, region de Murang'a, Kenya

Il est de plus en plus prouvé d'après l'etude d'une région de petite exploitation agricole au Kenya que la ‘réforme fonciaire’ effectuée au cours des années 50 et 60 qui comprenait la consolidation et l'enregistrement des parcelles de terre individuelles n'a pas complètement supplanté l'ancien système ng'undu de bail foncier. Là où les deux systèmes coexistent, la fluidité des limites rend les droits fonciers incertains. Des références à une série de cas historiques permettent d'examiner la nature des rapports et comment ils affectent les droits fonciers des femmes et des hommes. On soutient que les procédés mis en oeuvre aux endroits de coexistence, bien qu'ils défavorisent généralement les femmes, ont créé une région où les femmes autant que les hommes sont en droit de contester leurs droits fonciers.

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. 91 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1989

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