Browsing by Author "Marima, Samuel. M."

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    Optimum economic plans for settlement schemes in Uasin-Gishu district, Kenya: a case study for Kaptagat, Ainabkoi, and Elgeyo border schemes
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 1979) Marima, Samuel. M.
    The Kenya agriculture is comprised of a large farm sector and a small farm sector. These two sectors together contributed about £150 million to the Gross Marketed product in 1974, half of which came from the small-farm sector. The small-farm sector has experienced a 6-fold increase in value of production since 1963. However, this sector has remained predominantly subsistence, producing milk and maize of which 80 percent remains on the farms. Much has been done to improve this situation through extension machinery by encouragement of high-value cash-crops such as pyrethrum, tea and coffee. The small farm-sector supports over 70 percent of Kenya's population. This has made it the locale of government strategy for development in recent years.Over the last 15 years (1961-1975) about one million acres in the large-scale farm sector has been set aside and sub-divided into small holdings to absorb excess of unemployment and landlessness in the rural areas. The small holdings were grouped into schemes or administrative purposes. Some schemes are called high density and other low density depending on the acreage sizes. Distinct in this class of small holdings, the settlement schemes have pioneered in the use of credit as a third major input after labour and land. This has been followed by an emergence of indebtedness which is not typical of other small holdings where credit has not been introduced or was in the initial stages of introduction. This study is designed to analyse several factors peculiar to the settlement schemes; namely 1. the high level of loan defaults. 2. under utilization of land, especially in the low density schemes, and 3. low family incomes. Specifically the study draws up optimum plans that can be used for extension purposes by the Ministry of Settlement and for reference were more Large-scale farms to be subdivided into small holdings. For this study three schemes were chosen depicting differences in farm size and ecology in Uasin Gishu District. In all schemes variable costs have increased tremendously while prices of the commodities produced have not fully kept pace. Though there has been an increase in disposable incomes, the farmer is spending more on household expenses and thus little cash is left for loan repayments. In comparing an optimum plain with resources at the 1975 level with actual plans for 1975, the following changes were indicated: 1. Maize becomes the dominant crop in the low altitude schemes replacing wheat. 2. Pyrethrum acreage expands in the high altitude schemes.3. In both types of schemes, the above changes require extra labour from the family pool. The above changes increase income by over 20 percent in all schemes. Additional optimum plans considered increased net income to the farmer and made use of hired labour. All but the high density schemes could operate at capacity with the family labour, optimised income through use of additional labour to increase maize acreage. The effect of credit on the optimum plan depends on its type. Credit which can be used on all enterprises was found to increase incomes more than cereal credit which is available only for maize and wheat. All the optimum plans left the farmer a healthy surplus for his off-farm expenses and / or investment after meeting present annual loan repayments.