Methodological issues in a study of resource allocation decisions among Embu farmers

This paper uses an ongoing field research project as a basis for discussing certain methodological issues the author believes merit further attention from both academics and government personnel working in developing countries. The research discussed here is an economic-anthropological study of agricultural production strategies among Embu farmers occupying two adjacent ecological zones. Its purpose is to examine determinants and consequences of resource allocation decisions of individual farm households in a subsistence oriented economy that is in the process of becoming monetized. The study examines how family allocation decisions are made in a context in which goals concerning production to meet subsistence needs often compete or conflict with goals concerning production for cash sale. The research analyzes the complex interplay among ecological, social/cultural, and economic constraints as influences on individual production decisions. Methods used in this study are drawn from the fields of agricultural economics and anthropology. It is argued here that in the past, methods and approaches of the economist and anthropologist to similar problems have been unnecessarily divergent- to the detriment of both disciplines and to the detriment of better understanding of processes of economic development

Economic differentiation among peasant households: a comparison of Embu coffee and cotton zones

This paper examines economic differentiation among peasant households in two adjacent eco-zones of Embu District. One is a high potential, high density coffee growing area and the other a medium potential, lower density cotton growing area. Cash crop production is far more extensive and rural markets considerably better developed in the coffee zone than in the cotton zone. Two sets of factors contribute to greater wealth differences in the cotton zone than in the coffee zone. First, cash crop income levels are considerably lower in the cotton zone and the poorest households tend to be worse off than the poorest group in the coffee zone. Second, key differences in the structure of off-farm income in the two zones mean that the wealthiest cotton zone residents tend to be better off than the wealthiest coffee zone residents. Despite a significant difference in agricultural potential and cash crops in the two zones, it is not agricultural production but non-agricultural income which appears to be the more important agent of economic differentiation. Off-farm income has contributed to the emergence of a different type of wealthy group in each of the two zones. Many of the wealthiest households in the cotton zone tend to have significant off-farm income in the form of wage employment. Wealthy households in the coffee zone, on the other hand, tend to have off-farm income in the form of small businesses rather than permanent wage employment

Studying social change through return visits: an Embu restudy

This paper outlines research aims and some preliminary findings from a 1994 restudy of social change in rural Embu District. The new project updates the author's early 1980s field research, in rural Kenya, and aims at collecting quantitative and ethnographic data that will allow comparisons with earlier cross-sectional data from an intensive study of farmers in the highlands of Embu D1striof. The paper discusses analytical and methodological problems of studying agrarian social change. Persistent challenges include those of capturing the strengths of both interpretive and more positivistic or empirical approaches (e.g exploring cultural constructions of economic "inequality as well as positivistic 'measures' of it); exploring the intertplay of structural constraints and individual action (the structure/agency problem); distinguishing recurrent from linear processes of change (cf. Chayanov 1966), and separating structural change from fleeting variati ons i n practi se. Substantive themes to be investigated in the 1994 field study include changes in farmers' economic strategies, wealth, and land tenure arrangements (especially in response to growing land scarcity). The central questions of the restudy are as follows: What processes of agrarian social differentiation are observable through longitudinal study rather than cross-sectional analysis? What are the principal influences on rural household wealth differences today? How do exchange relations between individuals ~n town and countryside shape rural differentiation processes? How do Embu people themselves construe changes in their material well-being (e.g as life-cycle effects, misfortune or good luck, or the outcome of hard work, laziness, or poor judgment)? Preliminary findings from the 1994 restudy suggest that well over half of the original study households believe (for reasons discussed in the paper) that their material circumstances have improved since 1980./S1. The study also addresses economic mobility across generations. Economic changes in the research area include a sharp increase in coffee cultivation in the former cotton zone, increased macadamia nut and dairy production in the middle coffee zone, a possible quintupling of the number of stone houses, and a higher incidence of land rental

Development and household economy in two eco-zones of Embu district

This paper addresses the relationship between household economy and processes of development in two eco-zones of Embu District. It examines three principal types of rural household economic investment: l) land purchases; 2) small business; and 3) agricultural production. Patterns of household investment suggest that rural economic growth may be propelled largely by off-farm income and investment, though the success of such non-agricultural investment depends heavily on the health of small-scale agriculture. Most types of agricultural investment examined tend to be concentrated among large land owners and households with regular off-farm income. However, while those with substantial off-farm income and larger than average farms are both more able and likely to invest in agriculture than are other smallholders, the former tend to invest more in land purchases and business itself than in agricultural production. Many land purchases are not made strictly for agricultural purposes but for possible future resale (due to rapidly rising prices) or as a form of security for obtaining loans for non-agricultural investment. In short, there are two distinct sets of small-scale agricultural producers with quite different needs and investment capacities. The first (possibly 25-35 percent of Embu smallholders) is the larger land owners with substantial off-farm income and a tendency to invest somewhat in agricultural production but more so in other areas such as land purchases and small businesses. The second set (65 to 75 percent of Embu smallholders) has less, land, less off-farm income, and a high propensity to invest nearly all of its resources in secondary education. Field data indicates an improvement on the living standard of the wealthiest 25 to 35 percent of the population. A variety of factors, however, limit economic advance and improved welfare among the 5 to 75 percent majority of smallholders

The Anthropology of Development and Clobalization: from classical political economy to contemporary neoliberalism

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