THE UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG

are heads of household cannot simply hire men to plant trees and other plant species, but must
call upon male relatives or sons to do so. It is therefore important to understand these
gendered rights and nested obligations around the control of trees and related plants when
formulating biodiversity conservation policies in order to reflect these traditionally
institutionalised gendered dimensions in the biodiversity conservation. It was also interesting
to learn that the location of a tree to be planted on the household farm has always been a focus
of struggle between husbands and wives, and this may partially explain the reasons as to why
the colonial forestry programme that characterised the 1940s, consequently collapsed. 631
We have earlier mentioned that, the Luhya cultural institutions bar women from the growing
of particular crop and plant species. This kind of institutional arrangement is also extended to
food crops such as bananas. Women are perceived to have bad luck and as a result, their
participation in the growing of such crop would lead to inviting bad omens which could even
lead to hunger, drought and sometimes community unrest. Women are however advised to
take good care of the crops they find in the homestead and the forest as well. They are also
barred from collecting certain plant species from the forest. A newly wed wife is taught about
these Luhya traditions and is advised to follow them religiously. She is also supposed to pass
on the same information to her daughter and other female members of the household under
her care.
The above practices are also extended to crops and plants in the forest. The study also found
out that in the olden times only men were supposed to collect firewood from the forest since
they could identify specific plant species that were supposed to be used and those that were
not supposed to be used for cooking. The key respondent in this case who happened to be a
tribal head informed the researcher that in a way, this preserved most of the plant species in
the forest. Non members (those who did not belong to the Luhya sub-tribes) were barred from
entering the forest for fear of wanton harvesting of the forest species, meaning that there was
restricted access to the forest as a common resource regime.
In light of the above, it is justifiable to make mention of the fact that a closer look at the part
of the forest where these strict institutions still hold strongest, for instance in Shipalo,
Bukhonyi and Mukshakawe areas, the forest cover is still firm and far more intact and
flourishing compared to shinyalu, Mulinami Shitsuilio and Kapsukuru, where there is relative
flexibility as far as the local institutions regarding access are concerned. This observation was
interpreted to mean that strict local institutions regarding access to common resource regimes
were a pre-requisite to the health forest biodiversity since they culturally regulated the access
to the forest resources and were neither viewed as barriers in anyway.
When cash crops were introduced in the colonial times, there was the introduction of division
of labour in the types of crops grown by men and women. It was however important to find
out that cropping and labour roles changed. Given that land is a critical resource for sustaining
631 MaCGregor, J.J. 1950. Colony and Protectorate of Kenya. An Economic Survey of Forestry in Kenya and
Recommendation Regarding the Forestry Commission. Nairobi: English Press.
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