Agricultural Enterprise Initiatives of USAID/Kenya - Land Tenure and ...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In March 2008, USAID/Kenya commissioned a desk review of Kenya’s draft National Land Policy (dNLP),
and two field assessments of USAID programs in Kenya – one focused on agricultural and agroforestry
enterprises, and the other on natural resource management (NRM) and conservation. This report represents
one of three documents prepared under the initiative. 4
The purpose of this assignment was to assess how issues related to Land Tenure and Property Rights
(LTPR) 5 are impacting success of small- and medium-scale agricultural enterprises. The assessment team
focused on issues of i) regularization of rights to agricultural land, ii) access to land markets, iii) diversification
of local livelihood, and iv) issues of equitability and efficiency in the land administration system. The
assignment was to also provide USAID/Kenya with an understanding of how Kenya’s dNLP might impact
sustainability and growth of the small- and medium-scale farming sector.
Field visits were conducted over a two-week timeframe (March 8–20, 2008) in Central Province (Nyeri and
Nanyuki Districts) and Rift Valley (Trans Nzoia and Uasin-Gishu Districts) in the locations of Eldoret,
Kitale, and Cherangani Hills. Other meetings and workshops were held in Nairobi. A combination of focus
group discussions and individual interviews were held with small- and medium-scale agroforestry,
horticulture, maize, and dairy farmers; HIV/AIDS-affected groups; and health workers. To ensure broad
inclusiveness, joint interviews with men, women, and youth were followed up with separate interviews with
women. Other key informants included larger-scale leasehold farmers, small- and large-scale agricultural
traders, private horticulture companies, banks, government agricultural agencies, and private agricultural input
companies.
The assessment analyzed viability of specific enterprises, and assessed constraints and opportunities for
developing new enterprises, including analysis of value and supply chains, and competitiveness. The
assessment generated lessons and recommendations for securing agricultural property rights and contract
agreements to promote equity in access; efficiencies in land administration 6 and access to land markets;
improved agricultural productivity; increased investments in countering degradation of the land base via
investments in more sustainable production systems; and stronger, more diverse agricultural value chains with
the purpose of raising incomes of small- and medium-scale commercial farmers.
Lessons learned and best practices identified here are intended to promote USAID-focused interventions on
policy reforms in specific commodity sectors, increasing farm productivity and energizing commodity
markets through access to credit and business development services, and targeting value chains in
horticulture, maize, dairy, sustainability, and growth of the small- and medium-scale farming sector.
4
The other two documents are as follows: Bruce, John. August 2008. Kenya Land Policy: Analysis and Recommendations; and Aggarwal,
Safia and Chris Thouless. August 2008. Land Tenure and Property Rights Assessment: The Northern Rangeland and Coastal
Conservation Programs of USAID/Kenya.
5 Land tenure may be defined as the institutional (political, economic, social, and legal) structure that determines how individuals and groups
secure access to land. Property Rights refers to the right to the use and transfer (through selling, leasing, inheritance, etc.) of natural
resources. Different rights (strands of the bundle) may be distributed in various combinations among natural and legal persons, groups,
and several publics, including many units of government.
6
Land administration refers to the processes of recording and disseminating information about the ownership, value, and use of land and its
associated resources.
LTPR ASSESSMENT: AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES IN KENYA
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