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The Future of Smallholder Farming in Eastern Africa - Uganda ...

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such circumstances, we could expect Machakos to have more cognitive social capital than<br />

Taita-Taveta. This result is re<strong>in</strong>forced by the perception that <strong>in</strong>dividuals <strong>in</strong> Taita-Taveta<br />

expect relatively less help from mutual groups than is the case <strong>in</strong> Machakos (see Table 4.6).<br />

Because the employment <strong>of</strong> trust depends on the probability that agents will behave <strong>in</strong> a way<br />

that is expected (Gambetta 1988), it is likely that Taita-Taveta residents feel that people <strong>in</strong><br />

their neighborhood behave <strong>in</strong> unexpected ways or perhaps they perceive trust as enhanc<strong>in</strong>g<br />

the opportunity for cheat<strong>in</strong>g (Granovetter 1985).<br />

Table 4.7: Trust and honesty<br />

Issues Response Machakos Taita-Taveta Comb<strong>in</strong>ed<br />

Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %<br />

People are Strongly 39 24.4 34 21.1 73 22.7<br />

honest and<br />

trustworthy<br />

agree<br />

Agree 102 63.8 78 48.4 180 56.1<br />

Disagree 15 9.4 47 29.2 62 19.3<br />

Strongly<br />

disagree<br />

4 2.5 2 1.2 6 1.9<br />

Total 160 100 161 100 321 100.0<br />

Members are Strongly 19 11.9 18 11.2 37 11.5<br />

more<br />

trustworthy<br />

agree<br />

Agree 79 49.4 53 32.9 132 41.1<br />

than <strong>in</strong> other Disagree 55 34.4 85 52.8 140 43.6<br />

villages Strongly 7 4.4 5 3.1 12 3.7<br />

disagree<br />

Total 160 100.0 161 100.0 321 100.0<br />

Source: Field survey, 2003<br />

Collective action <strong>in</strong>dicators are those that reflect provision <strong>of</strong> services through jo<strong>in</strong>t<br />

effort by a group <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>dividuals, so long as this collective action is not imposed by an external<br />

force. S<strong>in</strong>ce it is <strong>in</strong>ternally generated, reap<strong>in</strong>g the benefits <strong>of</strong> strong social ties—engag<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />

successful collective action, for example—re<strong>in</strong>forces the bonds with<strong>in</strong> a group. This leads to<br />

further action <strong>in</strong> the future (Ostrom 1994). Table 4.8 <strong>in</strong>dicates the respondents’ perception <strong>of</strong><br />

the extent to which members <strong>of</strong> the community can agree to mobilize for a common good <strong>in</strong><br />

terms <strong>of</strong> development. In both Machakos and Taita-Taveta districts, 80 percent <strong>of</strong> the<br />

respondents felt that members <strong>of</strong> their communities can and do contribute, <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> money<br />

and time, to development causes. In Machakos, the majority (about 70 percent) believes that<br />

such contributions have rema<strong>in</strong>ed the same or have improved, compared with other villages,<br />

while <strong>in</strong> Taita-Taveta, the reverse seems to be the case.

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