COLONIAL ROOTS OF FOOD SHORTAGE IN KENYA: THE MARGINALIZAION OF THE AGIKUYU WOMEN’S INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM ON FOOD CROP PRODUCTION

Abstract

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.