Assessing the Impact of Coffee Production on Abagusii Women in Western Kenya: A Historical Analysis (1900–1963)

Abstract

African agriculture has experienced drastic changes in its organisation and form, thus affecting women, the key players, in diverse ways. Both internal and external factors have contributed to this transformation, including the introduction of technologies and innovations, such as new crops. Nevertheless, agricultural performance on the continent has worsened, and, although this generalisation tends to ignore changes in specific and small units of analysis, Africa is largely portrayed as a continent plagued with endemic food shortages and famines. Women, especially in rural districts, who spend much of their time and labour on agriculture, have suffered greatly from such poor performance. This chapter takes a small unit of study, the Abagusii community in western Kenya, and sets out to analyse historically the changes in agriculture over a fairly long period of time, from 1900 up to 1963, when Kenya attained independence. It is evident that Kenya’s poor agricultural performance has been a culmination of processes and changes brought about by colonial capitalism. The internationalisation of division of labour relegated Africa to the role of supplier of cheap agricultural raw materials to the Western capitalist world. The integration of Africa’s economy in general, and Kenya’s in particular, into the world capitalist system elicited a process of transformation that gradually modified, marginalised and subordinated the region’s agriculture, with severe implications for women, who are the key players in the sector. Thus, colonialism effected structural changes in African agriculture that have weakened both African food production and the role women play in it. This chapter takes one agricultural innovation, coffee farming, and analyses the effects it 13Omwoyo.pmd 10/09/2008, 12:56 156 157Omwoyo: The Impact of Coffee Production on Abagusii Women in Kenya