Browsing by Author "Muraya Martha("

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Colonial Transformation of The Aembu Land Access and Labour Division Systems in Food Crop Production From 1906- 1963
(Journal of History and Cultural Studies, 2024-09-10) Mbogo Mary Wangai; ;Caroline Mucece Kithinji(; Muraya Martha(
This study examined the colonial transformation of the Aembu access to land and labour division in food crop production from 1906-1963. Colonial practices and policies undermined the Aembu land and labour systems in food crop production. Methodologically, the study used descriptive research design and Articulation of Modes of Production Theory. The study was conducted in Embu East, Embu West and Embu North sub-counties of Embu. The study targeted a population of 16,144 people based on the 2019 census. Corroborated data was obtained from oral, archival and secondary sources to establish the reliability and validity of the research. The study’s findings were that the creation of African reserves to pave way for white settlement and labour supply from Africans led to the abandonment of crop farms since they were far away; the reserves had limited land sizes with poor soils for the production of enough food while most of the food storage facilities were destroyed in the process of migration and that during the political crisis of World Wars and Mau Mau, labour in food crop production was reduced. It concluded that colonialism transformed the Aembu land and labour systems while the co-existence of pre-colonial and colonial access to land and labour systems on the production of food crops exposed the community to famines. The study recommends that policymakers should come up with strategies for promoting traditional forms of access to land and labour to ensure adequate food crop production.
The Aembu access to land and labour systems on food crop production and food security up to 1906
(Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2024-09-16) Mbogo Mary Wangai; Caroline Mucece Kithinji; Muraya Martha(
This study sought to analyse how the pre-colonial Aembu organised their land and labour systems in food crop production for guaranteed household food security up to 1906. The pre-colonial African societies had either matrilineal or patrilineal systems of land ownership, while labour was gender specific. The study employed a descriptive research design. The study was conducted in Embu East, Embu West and Embu North sub-counties of the larger Embu County. Purposive sampling with a snowballing technique was applied to get 50 respondents who were interviewed from a target population of 16,144. The study corroborated data from oral, archival records and secondary sources. The findings were that the pre-colonial Aembu food crop producers had elaborate systems of land rights and land use under clan heads. The land access system accommodated practices like shifting cultivation and intercropping; the pre-colonial division of labour in food crop production combined all household members and those other forms of labour like communal, paid and corporate were sourced from outside the household. The study concluded that the pre-colonial Aembu were food secure in spite of occasional rainfall failure, locust invasion and warfare, while the articulation of pre-colonial and capitalist land and labour systems exposed the society members to food insecurity. The study contributed to the pre-colonial social, political and economic historiography of the Aembu people. The study recommends that the post-colonial government should employ strategies that can be effectively used to mitigate food crop production insecurity by focusing on the adoption of various traditional methods of land and labour access.