COLONIAL ROOTS OF FOOD SHORTAGE IN KENYA: THE MARGINALIZAION OF THE AGIKUYU WOMEN’S INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM ON FOOD CROP PRODUCTION
Date
2020-08Author
Muraya, Dr. Martha Wanjiru
Ngare, Dr. Lazarus Kinyua
Gathungu, Dr. Geofrey King’ori
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Since pre-colonial period, the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) on food crop production have
played a significant role in enhancing the supply of food in the society. This paper examines the
effects of marginalization of Agikuyu Women‟s Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AWIKS) on food
supply during the colonial period in Kiambu County of Kenya. This is done to show how the
colonial land alienation, commercialized agriculture, and forced labor policies undermined and
neglected the AWIKS on food crop production, which contributed to lack of enough food supply in
the households. The findings demonstrate that due to intensive land alienation, the Agikuyu women
lacked enough productive land for cultivation which led to poor crop harvest, inadequate space for
food storage facilities, and increased destruction and spoilage of food crops due to poor storage.
The European commercial fast growing high yield food crops were more vulnerable to increased
temperatures, low rainfall, and they required high farm inputs and mechanization which were not
affordable by the Agikuyu women. The paper concludes that the integration of indigenous
knowledge systems and western modern scientific agricultural knowledge systems on food crop
production can be an effective way of ensuring food security.