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

and fewer married women have matrimonial joint titles, they are unable to access this facility. AFC’s core
target crop is maize, so this can be seen as an opportunity cost to otherwise increase household capital for
agricultural improvement. On the other hand, the Equity Bank, Kitale branch, attracts a 60 percent female
client base. This is attributed to diversification of collateral to non-land assets and a UNDP Women’s Fund
initiative providing credit to women through group schemes. While the two banking institutions do not
accept lease documents as collateral, women and youth are engaged in the short-term leasehold land market
for earning their livelihoods.
Most women and youth appear to be investing in other opportunities that afford them more control and
better returns to their labor beyond the family land and away from land titling issues. These include maize
trading, poultry, dairy, and leasing farms for horticulture production. For instance, NCPB clientele is 10
percent women who are largely characterized as traders and women farming on leased lands. Other private
maize traders do not keep records, although the estimated female clientele base is 20-30 percent, largely smallscale
traders.
6.2 YOUTH ISSUES
Most young men (‘youth’ defined as persons having reached legal maturity) lack tenure security and young
women are excluded (see findings in Table 6.2). Young men expect to inherit land. Many feel that they have
to wait too long to obtain land titles from their parents, although it was not clear how long the inheritance
usually takes to be effected. In Nyeri (Central Province) and Cherenganyi (Rift Valley), most men waiting to
inherit land were from 30 to 40 years. These young men had access to land and were farming although land
titles were yet to be transferred to their names. Parents (fathers and mothers) are reluctant to have titles
transferred to their sons out of fear that they would sell the land. The majority of young men rely on
inheritance to access and own land while, with very few exceptions, young women are excluded by customary
practices. Even in the Kikuyu culture, the unmarried/divorced women who have inheritance rights tend to be
older, their farm sizes are smaller and usually are untitled. Young women have the weakest land access and
ownership rights—a concern limiting their involvement in agricultural enterprises.
TABLE 6.2. SAMPLES OF THE YOUTH LAND TENURE PATTERNS (FIELD INFORMANTS)
Area Owned with title Owned by parent Leasehold
Central Province 0 16 1
Rift Valley 2 10 5
Total 2 26 6
6% 76% 18%
In areas such as Kiboroa - Saboti, severe land pressure and population growth has broken down the
inheritance system. There is an average 2.5 19 (to 1.623 20 ) acres (0.66 - 1.0 ha) per family of five children, and
most families find it impossible to pass land as inheritance to their sons. Some youth in Nyeri have turned to
farming using leased land (often this is seasonal or limited to less than five years). In Kaisagat, Trans Nzoia
District, while members of the St. John Youth Club lease land to grow higher-value horticultural crops with
assistance from USAID’s KHDP, the lease arrangements are too short for the youth to get a return on their
investments, and there is no incentive for long-term value-adding investments (e.g., dams to allow irrigation).
The leases are not documented, and double leasing is common. This poses a risk to longer-term investments
such as planting of passion fruit trees (Nyeri). Youth are also unable to use these ‘informal’ short leases for
collateral to acquire credit. Although some members incur losses from damage caused by grazing animals,
19
Kiboroa, Saboti estimate.
20
MOA average for Trans Nzoia District.
LTPR ASSESSMENT: AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES IN KENYA 27