l1 0 OCT. 1972 Papers in International Studies

Africa Series No. 4 . /]

. 1 !lr!;, . . /}' ·~ .,. t'Il" ~

. hl'.· . ;'"''~ ~

RECENT . ··;~~ · AG RI CULTURAL CHANG E'J!!!!J

EAST OF MOUNT KENYA

1

•

By Frank E. Bernard

· Studies Africa Program, 1969

Athens, Ohio

CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES OHIO UNIVERSITY

Papers in International Studies

Africa Series

Southeast Asia Series

Publications Committee, 1968-69

lan MacKenzie, Director, Ohio University Press

Sadek H. Samaan, Professer of Education

Gilbert D. Schneider, Research Associate

N. J. D. Versluys, Associate Professer of Sociology

Richard F. W eisfelder, Instructor of Government

Paul W. van der Veur, Director Southeast Asia Studies, Professer of Government (Chairman)

Mrs. Aimee T. Lew, Publications Secretary

The views expressed in the Papers in International Studies are those of the author(s) and should not be considered to represent the policies or beliefs of the Center staff or of the Publications Co=ittee.

Copyright ©1 969 by the Center for International Studies, Ohio University.

For papers published and forthcoming see back page.

1 0 OCT. 1972

RECENT AGRICULTURAL CHANGE EAST OF MOUNT KENYA

RECENT AGRICULTURAL C~~GE EAST OF MOUNT KENYA

By

Frank E. Bernard

Ohio University Center for International Studies

Papers in International Studies Africa Series No. 4

Priee: $2.00

Copyright~969 by the Center for

International Studies, Ohio University

PREFACE

It is with great pleasure that I introduce the fourth in the

series of Papers in International Studies dealing with Africa. The

author, Frank E. Bernard, Assistant Professor of Geography at Ohio

University, has selected as his tapie one of the most vital contem­

porary problems of tropical Africa, agricultural change and development.

Within the framework of Africa's developing nations, agriculture

holds a major share of the international trade. Because of rapid

population increases, African agriculture must also respond to the

growing demand for food. The apparent need to improve and expand

African agriculture is at once impaired by the legacy of colonial

control in agricultural production, the predominance of native systems

of subsistence cultivation, and the physical handicaps of tropical

environments. Nothing short of a revolution in agriculture is needed

to comply successfully ~·li th the demanda of this and future times.

To the geographer, the real and potential change in land use,

settlement forms and patterns initiated by the implementation of

development programs, the introduction of new crops, and the adoption

of new techniques and methods in production, are fertile grounds for

inquiry. Drawing upon his extensive field studies in East Africa,

Professor Bernard has brought into focus the spatial elements of

agricultural change within a highland region of Kenya. The resulta

formulated in this paper were first presented to an African faculty

seminar at Ohio University. I am indeed pleased to present a geo­

graphie approach to Recent Agricultural Change East of Mount Kenya.

- v -

Hubert G. H. Wilhelm Chairman Department of Geography Ohio University

RECENT AGRICULTUPAL CHANGE EAST OF MOU~~ KENYA*

In the past fifteen years the African-occupied Kenya highlands

have experienced an agricultural revolution.! Land tenure has been

reorganized, cash crops have been introduced and the orientation of

t he a~ricultural economy has been to the market. While much scholarly

attention has been devoted to these agricultural transformations west

and south~11est of Mount Kenya in the Kikuyu realm, 2 very little investi­

gation has been directed to other parts of the country, especially

Nount Kenya's eastern slopes. The present paper focuses on agricul­

tural change since 1950 in this little-knovm area east of Mount Kenya,

the homeland of sorne 470,000 Meru-speaking peoples. This area, herein

referred to as Meru or Meruland, is approximately coïncident with the

Kenya administrative district of Heru (Fig. 1).

The approach of this paper is geographie. Spatial variations

in agricultural change rather than actual processes of change will be

of paramount importance, t hough it i s clear t~at agricultural change

in Heru is the result of a broad group of processes which involve the

integration of small, self-contained communities into the ~,1ider economy

and culture of the modern ~-1orld. 3

Three purposes are of concern in this presentation. The first is

to explore certain spatial dimensions of agricultural change in the

~'This and other field studies in Kenya Here supported by the African Studies Program at t he University of Hisconsln and by the Foreign Field Research Program conducted by the Division of Earth Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council and financed by t he Geography Branch, Office of Naval Research under Contract Nonr-2300 (09).

1Eric S. Clayton, n~rarian Develo~ment in Peasant Economies: Sorne Lessons from Kenya ( e\>1 York: HacfillanCo., 1964), pp. 32-55.

2see the host of studies listed in Ruth S. Freitag and Walter v1. Deshler, ~gricultural Development Schemes in Sub-Saharan Africa (Wash­ington: U. S. Library of Congress , 1~63),]pp. 50-60.

3Philip L. Wagner, The Human Use of the Earth (Glencoe: Press, 1960), p. 50 and George U. F'osteF;"'T'faditional Cultures ~he Impact of Technological Change (New York: Harper and Row, p. 50.

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Free and 1962),

UGANDA

E 1 evotion in fe et

9000

5000

1000

Seo Levtel

- 2 -

KENYA TOPOGRAPHY

Mt.

Kilimonjaro

0 50

Miles

ETHIOPIA

100

Fi g . 1.

SOMALI A

/NO/AN OCEAN

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matrix of l1eru 1 s mountain slope setting and colonial legacy. The

second is to describe the effects of t hese changes upon 11eru life

and landscape. The final objective is to suggest a number of impli­

cations vlh ich these changes seem to have for agriculture east of

Hount Kenya and for other comparable African regions.

Agricultural Resources

Meruland offers an interesting case study for an investigation

of agricultural change, for t~o dominant mountain masses give striking

heterogeneity to t he physical landscape, and hence to aoricultural

resources (Fig . 2). In t~1e west :Hount Kenya is tr1e dominating physical

feature of Meru. Its craggy serrated peaks, which rise strikingly above

a massive dame, are visible from most of Ncruland on clear days, and

t he ir perennial snor,1 cap shines incongruously in the equatorial sun.

From this great 1•7este rn zenith at 17,000 feet, the vast Mount Kenya

dame slopes gently nort"tmard and east,·:ard blending into the Lm,7 Eastern

Plateau of East Africa. Elevations at t he extreme eastern tip of the

district are only 1,100 feet.

The ether massif of ~1eru is the Nyambeni Range in the northeast,

an elongated, extruded volcanic feature, Hhich rises sharply above t he

lmr eastern plateau surface to a height of about 8,200 feet at its

southern crest. Though its slopes are noderate, they are not so steep

as to discourage a varied ranee of sedentary a gricultural activities.

vfuen one assesses t he remainder of the district, the dominance

of t hese t wo mountain masses is crucially important in any consideration

of agriculture. To the north are lava plains, hot and arid, and possessed

of particularly shallow soils. Similarly, to t he east and southeast

elevations fall sharply to 3,000 feet or less. These eastern lowlands

are rocky plains, roughened by steep inselbergs, and composed of sandy

and infertile soils.

The landforms of Meru District have critical influence on climate

and,therefore,on agricultural potential. The hi ghland masses not only

CREST ELEVATIONS

1 SHA8A (5322) 2. SHAPTIGA (42~) J WIA.A HILLS (<191 '1 ITIENE ~-47 1

!) IOEGA !4000 J 6 TH\Jllll (456'1) 7 KI JE ( 4 781) 8 lOER A (488. 91.10UA ( ·29\ 10 iThANAUI'II (127761 Il I!OTUNOV OOB26l 12 ..-ATEI (7200

1 1-,,

d'

0

s 0 10 -\> ...... --:",.:-, -.,--

- 4 -

Fig. 2.

MERU TOPOGRAPHY

El•vofl()(l 10 fe• t

<:) ~ ' 7000

1(11\) 5000

J~~ ... 7:''.. 3000

EliOMtvt Seosonolly 1100 Swompy Arecs

- 5 -

mitigate the severely high temperatures and rates of evapotranspiration

of this equatorial region, but also cause biannual rain-bearing winds

to be forced upward and lose a much greater amount of moisture than

over low-lying areas. Whereas stations on southern and southeast­

facing mountain slopes can expect 35-80 inches of reliable rainfall

annually, the eastern lowlands receive amounts more within the range of

15-30 inches, and this is often of an extremely variable nature. 4 At

the same time, the massifs interrupt the flow of seasonal winds to the

northern lava plains, producing a sharp and strikingly noticeable rain

shadow bath north of Mount Kenya and northwest of the Nyambenis.

Landforms and their genesis also influence !1eru soils. Mount

Kenya and the Nyambenis, bath of relatively recent volcanic origin, and

bath receiving abundant moisture, have deep, friable, reddish and brown

volcanic clays and loams, some of which are the most fertile in Kenya.

By contrast, soils of the law eastern plains are derived from basement

system rocks v7hich yield high quantities of quartz, a reddish to yellowish

color, and an extremely sandy texture. On the northern slopes of Mount

Kenya and the northwestern slopes of the Nyambenis dark brown clay loams

give way to ashy, rocky and very poorly developed soils on the northern

lava plains.

It is thus clear that these severa! elements of the physical environ­

ment in combination yield an exceedingly heterogeneous base for agricul­

ture. Fertile, permanent cultivation soils, and high rainfalls on upper

slopes grade sharply into country better suited for shifting cultivation

under traditional technology; at the lowest altitudes in the district

unirrigated agriculture of any but the most drought-resistant crops is

a most risky way of life.

4For a more complete analysis of rainfall and its spatial and temporal variability, see Frank E. Bernard, "East of Mount Kenya: Heru Agriculture in Transition" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin), pp. 30-41.

Background to Agricultural Change

Having briefly described the diverse agricultural resources of

Meru, we may turn to a few essential points of historical background

to recent agricultural changes. In pre-European times Meru mountain

slopes provided varied opportunities for sedentary agriculturists. In

response to the opportunities and limitations of the district, a unique

and sophisticated agricultural system of multiple and simultaneous use

of mountain-slope ecologie zones had developed. In colonial times, how­

ever, both Mount Kenya and the Nyambenis seriously shielded Meru from

the developing economy to the west and southwest. The mountains became

a barrier to contact with western ideas, goods, and innovations flowing

from Nairobi and elsewhere in European-occupied Kenya. Consequently,

into the early 1950s Meru life was much as it had been throughout the

nineteenth century.

Events in other parts of Kenya in the 1950s soon pulled Meru into

the rising tide of nationalism, which culminated in the Mau Mau uprising

of 1952-56. To be sure, the Meru did not have the critically frustrat­

ing land situation of the Kikuyu, but it is also true that many of the

tensions were imminent. Since the Meru are ethnically related to the

Kikuyu, the British were quick to implicate them, and they soon became

involved in the rebellion. 5

In retrospect, by almost any measure, Mau Mau was a cataclysm of

major proportions. It threH Kenya into war and disorder, involved

millions of pounds of property damage, and tragically resulted in more

than 13,000 African deaths.6 Agriculturally, by interrupting severa!

modest but worthwhile programs, Mau Mau made shambles of Post World

5Great Britain, Colonial Office1

Historical Survey of the Oririns and Growth of Mau Mau by F. D. Corfie d (London: H. M. S. 0::-1! 960 , ~57 and ilonaTa ~arnett and Karari Njamai Mau Hau from W thin (New York: l'1onthly Revie~·7 Press, 1966), p. 7 .-- ----

6Great Britain, Colonial Office, 1960, ~· cit. (footnote 5), p. 316.

- 6 -

- 7 -

War II plans to increase production in African reserves. Yet as dis­

rupting as Nau Hau ~·7as for previous agricultural development, because

its underlying tensions '"ere rural, it re-emphasized the need for

agricultural change in Kenya's overpopulated highlands. Inadvertently,

Mau Uau shocked a lethargie and poorly financed colonial administration

into shaping a new agricultural plan which would change the lives of

thousands of rural African peoples throughout Kenya.

The fundamental document for this plan ~ms formulated by R. J. 1'1.

Swynnerton and entitled ~ Plan to Intensify the Development of African

Agriculture; it is noH commonly referred to as the "S~rynnerton Plan."7

Upon the foundation laid by this plan, implementation of a modern

agricultural system has been attempted in African areas throughout Kenya.

All aspects of production have been altered--from land atmership to

marketing--but the keystone of agricultural reform has been individuali­

zation of the land tenure system and introduction of cash crops to pro­

vide small scale farmers r·!ith an annual income of at least ~100 over-and­

above subsistence.

Before considering sorne of the changes "'hich have evolved from

this plan, it is v10rthwhile to reflect momentarily upon Meru population

distribution and land use about 1950 at the onset of the recent period.

At this time, as noted above, because of remoteness and isolation, Meru's

t'I.<JO traditional agricultural systems Here predominantly intact. 8 In the

highlands most of the Meru subdivisions (subtribes) utilized tl.ro or

three ecologie zones. In middle altitudes (4,000-5,500 feet), they

resided and cultivated such crops as yams, bananas, sweet potatoes,

cassava, and tobacco. From this homestead zone they made daily trips

to lower altitudes (3,000-4,000 feet) to raise seed crops such as

7Kenya Colony and Protectorate, De~artment of Agriculture, A Rlan to Intensifv th~ Development of Afr~can Agriculture in Kenya compilid by R. T. M. S'vynnerton (Nairobi: Government Printer, 19S4).

8The traditional systems of agriculture ~.rere reconstructed through extensive interviewing in 1965-66, and by reference to t he literature of early European travelers and administrators. For more detail, see Bernard, 1968~ QQ. cit. (footnote 4), Chapter III, pp. 149-256.

- 8 -

bulrush millet, sorghum, and a variety of pulses under a system of land

rotation cultivation. At the same time, they used higher altitudes to

cultivate a crop of wimbi (Eleusine coracana or finger millet) and graze

cattle. With sorne variation this three-tiered ecologie zonation prevailed

on both the slopes of Mount Kenya and the Nyambeni Range.

The lmvland system, by contrast, displayed a uniformity which

reflected both the barrenness and the homogeneity of its resources. Law­

land peoples practiced a system of shifting cultivation with a limited

range of seed crops. Essentially, millet and sorghum were the mainstays

of the food economy. In both systems cattle, sheep, and goats were

kept in varying numbers according to the presence of tsetse fly and a

spate of other endemie diseases.

Population distribution at this time reflects these systems of

land use (Fig. 3). Heavy densities prevailed in a belt around the

mountains between 4,000 and 5,500 feet where most peoples of the high­

land agricultural system lived. In the eastern lowlands densities

were sparse in response to the lm·I carrying capacity of the land. And

the northern lava plains were virtually devoid of permanent occupants

since they are too arid and infertile for agriculture.

In traditional times these systems of land use were in balance

with the environment, for population numbers were controlled by disease,

conflict, and famine. However, in the forty years leading up to 1950,

many of these population checks had been removed, and population was

growing at unprecedented rates, particularly in the highlands. 9 The

outcome of these growth rates was pressure on agricultural resources,

which manifested itself in degradation of soils and in increasing frag­

mentation of landholdings. 10 As in Kikuyuland, overburden on the

9s~ecific data on population growth rates are not available for Kenya before the intercensal period of 1948-62, when growth rates were calculated at 3.3 percent per annum. This figure has been questioned, however, and it is believed that a more realistic growth rate is about 2.64 percent per annum. But colonial officials were aware of steep rates of increase long before 1962. See S. H. Ominde, Land and Popula­tion Moyernents in Kenya (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1968), pp. 83-5.

lûnerek F. Roman, "Land Consolidation and Redistribution of Population in the Irnenti Sub-Tribe of the Meru," African Agrarian Svstems, ed. by Daniel Biebuyck (London: Oxford University Press, 1963), pp. 224-44.

1 --. r --, 1 ;

' \ 1

)

' 1

0 /

.s r

Il \.. 0 1 "' 1

' 1

';)

1

l _ '---+-...;,jiO -9

M.~e>, ; c r

- 9 -

' l' Il 1"'

Fig. 3.

~- ...

' .1

1 1 1 1

K 1 1 1) '

MERU DISTRICT POPULATION

DISTRIBUTION 1948

Original setttement oreos

-

- 10 -

traditional system of land tenure and its agricultural resources rendered

subsistence production inefficient. It \·Jas to these t~·m problems of

increasing population pressure and excessive fragmentation which the

Swynnerton Plan initially directed its attention.

Agricultural Change

Land Reform

In l1eru two major land reform ~rograms \<lere instituted at the

forma! cessation of hostilities in 1956.11 First, an ambitious plan

of consolidation Has be gun, and second, resettlement of thousands of

families to unoccupied high potential land \·Jas initiated to relieve

population densities in the middle zone. These t~vo programs proposed

to create farms, both in t he old areas and in the newly settled regions,

which '1170uld be economically viable by Suynnerton' s definition.

Consolidation

Consolidation in Heru ;.vas received Hith indifference at first by

the inhabitants of the middle altitudes . Severe emergency measures such

as villagisation had not been imposed in I1eru, so unlike many rural

areas in Kikuyuland consolidation vJa s an involved task, producing exces­

s ive amounts of litigation . 12 To compound matters , individual m-mership

had never been recognized in Heru and many farmers had recently planted

coffee on t heir usuf ructuary plot s . 11eru coffee farmers thus became

r e luctant to surrender any part of t heir holdings. Yet another factor

Has 'Jidespread resistance among Heru families to moving their homestead

from pleasant middle altitudes to less ideal lower or higher regions.

11Meru District Agricultural Department, "Heru District Agricul­tural Plan, 1955-57," l1inistry of Agriculture Library, Nairobi. (Mimeographed.)

12Homan, 1963, op. cit. (footnote 10), p. 237.

- 11 -

The earliest consolidation took place on Hount Kenya near l1eru

To•_-m uhere the government w·as confident t hat the ne~7 program ~JOuld be

accepted (Fi g . 4). ~.roluntary acceptance by t he people ~Tas essential,

because t~e decision to continue t he program rested entirely with local

committees, Hho, to a certain extent, Here independent of government

headmen and chiefs. Under these conditions, progress was excruciatingly

slmT. By 1962, six years after t he inception of the olan, only four

small areas had been consolidated. 13 It was not until the mid- 1960s

t hat significant numbers of sub-locations had finally been completely

surveyed, demarcated, and registered. Some of the last regions to

consolida te have been densely settled, middle altitude, coffee-gr.mdng

regions, many of which ·J1ere still entangled in litigation as la te as

1965-66.

Hhere consolidation has taken place, its consequences pervade many

facets of Meru life and landscape. Profound transformation of the

countryside follm1s in its \>Take usually within a year or t~1o of demar­

cation •14 A new openness to the landsca~e is created by ~Tidespread removal of trees and permanent crops, and an incongruous symmetry evolves

as farms are demarcated by hedges, roads are eut, and new species of

trees for \Jindbreaks, shade, and archards are planted.

Changes in housing and settlement patterns also follow consolidation.

Traditional cylindrical-conical houses are replaced by government-encour­

aged rectangular homes often Hith corrugated iron roofs. Throughout

consolidated areas, increasing angularization of plots also leads to

disintegration of traditional settlement patterns 'vhich uere centered

on circular animal compounds.

13on the process of land consolidation, see N. D. i'kGlashen, "Consolidation of Land Holdings i n Kenya," Geo~raohy, Vol. 45 (1960), pp. 105-6 ; and John C. DevTilde, et. al., Exper ences vlith A~ricultural Develonment in Tronical Africa, Vol.-rr : The Case Stuarës Baltimore ; JohnsHopkins-vress, 1968), pp . 9-12.

14see Clayton, 1964 op . cit. (footnote 1), p. 44. At the time of t he field survey on whlcnthTSstudy is based (1965-66), t he areas disp1aying the mo s t landscape change were those completed in 1962-63. The generalizations belo~; are basect on detailed survey of 71 farms sampled at random, and from later, more extensive field checks.

MOUNT

KENYA

FOREST

0 5

Mlles

- 12 -

45'

LAND CONSOLIDATION

Fi g . 4.

1962-1966

SUBLOCATION COMPLETED

1962

FI66NAL STAGES

19 EARLY STAGES 1966 NOT PH,;}GtiAI't~Mt~U

- 13 -

Less obvious but even more significant changes are brought to the

agricultural way of life. Instead of each farming unit using severa!

ecologie zones, farms are no"t-7 restricted to one zone Hi th only one set

of potentials. Regional specialization thus is beginning t o replace

unspecialized subsis tence farming. This is especially true of cash

cro~s, but even with food crops, specialized regions are also evolving,

particularly in upper altitudes (Fig. 11).

Consolidation, then, by any measure bas been a dramatic mode

for bringing African farmers into the t~1entieth century. Its signifi­

cance to improving the standard of living raises the important question

of ita success in providin~ economically viable farms. The data available

at the time of this study reveal that, on the average, minimum target

acreages have not been attained (Fig. 5).15 ~or instance, in upper

altitudes, recommendeù farm sizes were 10-12 acres, but in none of the

upper sub-locations completed did the average acreage per holding reach

even ten acres. Similarly, in middle altitudes the minimum size for

viable farms vms to have been six acres, but in only t~vo completed sub­

locations was the average this large. The release of pressure by resettle­

ment, therefore, apparently has been insufficient. On the other band,

s,,rynnerton' s acreages were perhaps generous, because clearly many l1eru

farmers are able to derive subsistence and sorne additional income, if

not r100, from three or four acres, and, in sorne instances, even less.

Resettlement

An important factor for the continuing small size of farms in

consolidated acres v1as t he pattern of resettlement. Heru settlement

schemes established betHeen 1956 and 1962 encircle the region of densest

population (Fig. 3). 16 Though they were originally located in unsettled

or sparsely settled regions wbich ~·Jere vacant because of tsetse, malaria

15~-linimum acreages are from Roman, 1963, op. cit. (footnote 10), p. 231; see also Clayton, 1964, QR• cit. (footn~e TT; pp. 37-9.

16Meru District Agricultural Department, 1955-57, QR· cit. (footnote 11), p. 4.

KENYA

FOREST

9 Miles

- 14 -

5 1

Fig. 5.

LAND CONSOLIDATION AVERAGE ACREAGE

PER HOLDING 1966

MITUNGUI,J SETTLEMENT SCHEME

ACRES

01 or more

- 15 -

or inadequate surface water, once these impedimenta were removed, the

prospective schemes were well situated. But the process of settlement

detracted from this favorable position and its potential for relieving

population pressure in consolidated areas. As settlement schemes were

opened and farms were claimed, it was discovered that many new settlers

had not totally broken ties with their previous landholding. Instead,

through extended family arrangements, many farmers had maintained both

their old farm and a new settlement scheme farm as well. The result

has been that in the most densely-peopled areas resettlement has not

entirely complemented consolidation.

In less densely populated regions resettlement has been a fore­

runner of consolidation (Fig. 6). Between 1963 and 1965 new schemes

were opened in the Nyambenis for tea cultivation, at Mitunguu

on Mount Kenya's lower slopes, and most recently, in the eastern low-17 lands at Nkonde for irrigated farming. But since these schemes are

small and possess special environments, they have had little cumulative

effect on consolidation.

Despite disappointing efforts at releasing pressure in the middle

altitudes, settlement schemes have induced considerable redistribution

of Meru people (Fig. 7). Densely populated areas around Heru Town had

the greatest number of emigrants to new schemes, a reflection of the

initial emphasis on both consolidation and resettlement in this region.

The northern schemes have absorbed more than 75 percent of all family

units settled between 1955 and 1964. Elsewhere, especially in the

Nyambenis where consolidation had not commenced by mid-1966, only small

numbers of people have moved to schemes. Mituntu and the Nyambeni

tea schemes, for example, attracted only about 19 percent of all families

settled by 1964; Nkonde and Hitunguu only 6 percent. 18

17Meru District Agricultural Department Annual Reports, 1963-1965, l>Unistry of Agriculture Library, Nairobi. (H!meographed.)

18nata in this paragraph are from Meru District Agricultural Department,. Annual Reports, 1955-1964, Ministry of Agriculture Library, Nairobi. (Himeographed.)

-·-·---., 1 i

( i i \.\

.. , '·, i 1

a: 1-

"'

0 1

S'

0~--~--... 10 ~ -9 ...... 1 c .,.

\... 0 0

- 16 -

s"' 0 1

-------Y'·· c"'

1'- \

Fig. 6.

1 1 1 \ 1 1 \ 1 1.

\ \ \

1( 1 i \) '

--··- l

MERU SETTLEMENT SCHEMES

1

- 17 -

POPULATION MOVEMENTS 1955-1964

0 5 10

Mlles

Fig. 7.

Wldth of orrowa proportlonol to the number of fomlly unite settled during perlod

- - - - ~ Po pu lotion mowmenta of undetermlned magnitude

- 18 -

Spontaneous uncontrolled resettlement in previously unoccupied

regions indicates the need for future settlement programs in severa!

other areas (Fig. 7). Especially significant have been movements of

large numbers of people toward the Northern Grazing Area, resulting in

degradation of this dry country. Such infilling promises to retard

future consolidation efforts. To the south, movements of Tharaka and

Thaichu Tharaka east of Chuka have been met with plans for a settlement

scheme Hhich was to commence in 1966. 19

Resettlement has stimulated considerable agricultural change.

Obviously, it has improved land utilization and has stimulated agricul­

tural production in severa! previously empty regions. But more impor­

tantly, severa! of t he settlement schemes·--Kibirichia, Kiirua, Naari,

Gaitu, and Giaki (i.e., the older schemes)--have subsequently become

very receptive to agricultural innovation. They have also served as

foci for commercial agricultural production and social and economie

change.

Severa! relevant indices will illustrate the pervasive degree of

change and its economie consequences in these areas. 20 Significant

proportions of the farmers interviewed in all five schemes bad completely

abandoned traditional methods of tillage, planting, cultivation, and

harvesting. Hore than two-thirds of the northern scheme informants, for

example, had given up traditional division of labor; three-fourths were

planting crops singly instead of interplanting in the traditional fashion;

54 percent Here using nodern crop rotation. Statistically, by comparison

to other Meru farmers, the relationship bet~~een a gricultural innovations

of this kind and location within schemes is highly significant.

Other c~1anges are noteloJorthy. In virtually all of the sample

farms at leas t one ne,vly introduced crop or variety was under cultivation.

Groundnuts in Giaki, wheat and pyrethrum in Kibirichia, Naari, and Kiirua,

19Heru District Agricultural Department, 1965, ~· cit. (footnote 17), p. 13.

20nata belm·T are derived from intensive intervie~o~s at 54 settle­ment scheme farms, extensive field checks, and discussions with agricul­tural field officers in 1965-66.

- 19 -

hybrid maize in all schemes are exanples. High proportions of Euro­

pean breeds of da i r y cattle also r epresent an important new orientation

in animal husbandry- - aHay from traditional emphasis on quantity and

tm·rard emphas is on quality and productivity in cattle. Nore t han 14

percent of all European grade cattle in Meru in 1965 uere concentrated

in Kibirichia, Kiirua, and Naari , and at !east an equal proportion

~-1ere in Nkuene. 21 Other indices, illustrative of the neH \•7ay of life

in the older schemes, ,.,ere also found. The se range from ne'-1 and more

substantial house types to the development of sanitary, closed water

systems. Like t :le others, t hey are prevalent in n:uch grea ter propor­

tion v1ithin schemes t han outside .

The conclusion to be dra,·m from these data is t hat t he move from

traditionally occupied areas to settleroent sche~es represents a signifi­

cant break 'dth the past f or Heru farmers. In s one measure the adoption

of new techniques may be attributed to higher ratios of government­

planned farms, ~ore concerted extension efforts, and better educated

farmers on schemes , but to a remarkable degree, t he same kinds of agri­

cultural change have been t he rule even among ordinary s cheme farmers.

As a consequence of t he s e changes, t he older settlement schemes

have been i mportant commercial agriculture areas bath for local and

national markets . Es peci.ally significant commercial crops, · which have

had an i mpact upon individual farm earnings, are white potatoes and

w·heat in Naari, Kiirua, and Kibirichia; pyrethrum in Kibirichia ; and

maize, rice , and groundnuts in Gaitu and Giaki.

By comparison to t hese initially settled areas , sett1ement schemes

opened since 1963 have been 1ess successfu1. Mitunguu and Mituntu

(Fi g . 6) both have suffered sett1er absenteeism and consequent bush

encroachment, and Nkonde by 1966 had attracted few se ttlers. It is

true, hm·1ever, t hat t he ne~·rer sc;1emes generally not only have 1ower

agricultural potential than the original areas, but also they are more

reno te both from modernizing influence s and tl.1e market.

21persona1 intervievr uith John Mathiu, Agricultural Instructor, Kiirua Settlernent Scheme, November 30 , 1965.

- 20 -

To surnmarize land reform, resettlement and consolidation in Heru

have provided a sound base from \-lhich to develop a landed peasantry

with freehold tenure to individual consolidated farms. In choosing this

pattern for development, Kenya has been the first black African state

to dispense Hith the traditional order and adopt a ·t-restern system of

land tenure.22 Early resistance to this plan has diminished except

in pastoral a reas and in t.Yestern Kenya, and nor..Y the government can

hardly meet demands for consolidation. It is areas such as Meru that

sustain and encourage future diffusion of land reform t hroughout the

nation.

Crops

The introduction of major export cash crops has accompanied land

ref orm to quicken the economie revolution for small scale farmers.

Coffee bas been the keystone of cash crop developroent in Meru, and, in

itself, has brought vast agricultural change east of Hount Kenya. On

a smaller scale, tea has also been developed recently to provide upper

altitude farmers tvith a neu source of income.

Coffee

In briefly surveying cash crop development in Neru, it is signifi­

cant to note that t he i mpact of coffee conforma to a continental pattern

noted recently by Andre\·7 N. Kamarck . 23 As elsewhere in Africa, Meru

tree crop farmers (especially coffee farmers) have improved their lot

economically much more than their counterparts in other parts of the

distri ct. It may be said, in fact, t hat no i ntroduction to Meru

22Aaron Segal, "The Politics of Land in East Africa, " Africa Report, Vol. 12, No. 4 (1967), pp. 49-50.

23Andre\v 1:1. Kamarck , The Economies of African Development (Nev7 York : Frederick A. Praeger-;1967), p. 110; see also John C. DeWilde, et • .?1., Experiences tvith AÎricultural Development in Trogical Africa, Vol. 1: The Synthesis~t more : Johns Hopkins Press, 19 7), p. 220.

- 21 -

agriculture has had more impact than the development of coffee production.

In the decade-and-a-half since 1950 more than t8.5 million have come

into the Meru economy through coffee sales.24 The Meru coffee belt has

become a region of major economie growth, New markets and schools have

been built throughout, the raad network has been improved greatly, and

more than 90 small factories for processing coffee have been constructed

and now employ several hundred workers seasonally.

Although coffee was first introduced to Meru District in 1935,

initial development was extremely limited. In 1950 Meru produced only

48.77 tons of coffee. 25 This diminutive production can be attributed

to the refusa! of European planters to allow meaningful African coffee

production anywhere in Kenya. It was their belief that Africans would

introduce coffee pests and diseases, spoil the export market, and steal

from European coffee estates. 26

It was not until the Swynnerton Plan >-las implemented that European

sentiment diminished, allowing African coffee to expand. By the late

1950s African acreage and production was rising steadily, and by 1960

the African sector of Kenya's coffee industry had become firmly estab­

lished. In 1965 the Kenya African crop was approaching half the national

output.

Heru has had a considerable share in this growth. By virtue of a

favorable natural setting for coffee and a tradition of perennial crop

cultivation, in the early 1960s Meru District became the leading African

producer of coffee in Kenya. Of an estimated total Kenya production

worth tl3 million in 1964-65, Meru's crop grossed almost t1.2 million,

or roughly 9 percent. Meru coffee in 1965 occupied about one-fourth of

24Meru District Agricultural Department, 1961, ~· cit, (footnote 18), Appendix II, p. 7; idem., 1962, Appendix C, p. 25è:· idem., 1965, Appendix C; idem., 1964è-xppendix F; and Meru Farmers ooperative Union, Ltà., Value or-T9u4-65 offee Sales, unpublished data from the Union files, Meru, 1965.

25Meru District Agricu1tural Department, 1961, ~· cit. (footnote 18), Appendix II, p. 7.

26clayton, 1964, ~· cit. (footnote 1), p. 23 and Eric s. Clayton, "Peasant Coffee Product1on "'ilKenya," World Crops, Vol. 13 (1961), PP• 267-69.

- 22 -

the country's coffee acreage, and almost one of every two Kenya coffee

growers in that year \17as Meru. 27

The distribution of Meru's 28,000 acres of coffee suggests a

number of geographie contrasts which are important to any assessment

of the impact of coffee on agricultural change (Fig. 8). It is obvious

in the first place that Mount Kenya's coffee acreage is far greater

and far more concentrated than that of the Nyambeni Hills. There are,

in fact, more acres of coffee in the Meru and Chogoria vicinities alone

than in all the Nyambenis. Second, since all of Meru coffee is Arabica,

a variety which requires highland moisture and temperature conditions,

the distinct highland zonal concentration of coffee is striking. On

Mount Kenya coffee cultivation is strictly limited to the altitudes

of 4,000 to 6,000 feet; on the northwestern slopes of the Nyambenis

the rainshadow limits the range even more severely so that coffee can

be grown only above 5,500 feet. A final point is the strong correla­

tion between coffee acreage and dense middle altitude populations. A

comparison of Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 will reveal that the coffee belt is

also the most heavily settled zone of Meru's ecumene.

From these observations it is clear that: 1) proportionately

the impact of coffee has been greatest on Mount Kenya--especially

between Meru and Chogoria; 2) on a district scale the introduction of

coffee to highland agriculture has reinforced the pre-existing highland­

lowland agricultural dichotomy of the region; and 3) because coffee

has been grown principally in densely settled regions, its pattern of

development has been small scale and intensive: the average coffee

farmer cultivates only about three-fourths of an acre of coffee.

A view of Meru's coffee production in its spatial context further

underscores these basic regional contrasta (Fig. 10). In the 1964-65

season 7.5 million pounds of coffee were processed by Meru factories.

The overwhelming_concentration of this production was in the vicinities

27nata above are from the Meru Farmers Cooperative Union 1965, ~· cit. (footnote 24) and A. T. Grovel Africa South of the Sahara (London: Oxford University Press, 196t), p. 188.

----

9

-, 1 1

(

1 1

', 1

)

' 1 1 1 ),-- ....

fi/

... IJ

a:: .... .,

0

10 -/

S' ~

-9 1 C' .,.

- 23 -

" " ~' .. +'. : ·: ~ ~L,ap

q, •••• ~ .· ..

Fig. 8.

~oo· ., 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

\ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

K 1 i \)

MERU DISTRICT COFFEE ACREAGE

1964

1 1 1

1

1 i 1 1

One dot represents : 40 Acres

d

24 -

Fig . 9 .

MERU DISTRICT

POPULATION

DISTRIBUTION

1962 one dot

represents

peop 1 e

if3o'

0 5 10

Miles

-­,---' 1 1 1 1

r - /

1 1

l

/

( /

1 /

1 1

j _

,­,-

- 25 -

Fig. 10.

38°rog·/', -- 1

1 1

1 CLEAN COFFEE PRODUCTION 1964-1965

l J

\ 1,000,0006 \ 500000 ' 10o:ooo \50,000

\

1 Loss thon • : 25,000 1 POUNOS CLEAN COH EE

' '

- 26 -

of Meru and Chogoria, both mission centers with experimental coffee

dating back to t he thirties. More than 45 percent of Meru's total out­

put was derived from factories in these two areas. The Nyambeni produc­

tion in comparison is small (12.34 percent of total Meru production),

though it must be noted that growth in Nyambeni production between 1958

and 1964 was greater than grm11th on Mount Kenya. Once again, it is

evident that since coffee production is concentrated so also are the

revenues derived from coffee. The two Hount Kenya nodes of Meru and

Chogoria and the elongated belt stretching between them have realized

more than half the earnings from coffee since the early 1950s; the

Nyambenis and southern slopes of Mount Kenya, on the other hand, are

clearly secondary centers of production and incarne,

These patterns of production demonstrate the general tendency

for economie development to concentrate at points of early European

activity, thereby reinforcing the dominance of pre-established government,

market, and religious centers. From another standpoint the clustering of

coffee acreage and production into a "coffee belt" is significant: it

is the basic geographie context for considering agricultural change

associated v1ith the introduction and diffusion of coffee,

One of the most direct and serious consequences of coffee culti­

vation in this coffee belt has been a decrease in food production, This

development has been most marked around Chogoria, but, to a lesser degree,

it may be found elsewhere in the coffee zone between Meru and Igoji,

where consolidation has been completed. Not unexpectedly, the outcome

of this process is a decrease in diet standards, a pattern noted by

George M. Foster and others as being common elsewhere in the world

where high value cash crops have been introduced. 28 This, of course,

is not in keeping with the Swynnerton plan, which recommended subsist­

ence for all farm units.

Another change related to coffee is the inducement of increased

numbers of men into agricultural labor. This change directly alters

the traditional pattern in which women were the primary cultivators.

28Foster, 1962, QR· cit. (footnote 3), p. 36.

- 27 -

It has evolved as agricultural efforts have been reorientated toward

the market, a process which brings more responsibility of the farm to

the man. The man represents his family to the coffee society; he receives

payouts for his coffee production, and he is responsible if his trees

yield poorly. It is only natural that he should take a more active part

in cultivating, pruning, spraying and harvesting coffee trees. It is

surprising, however, that in many cases such work patterns are also

being transferred to other crops.

A more visible change attributed to coffee development has been

an opening of the landscape. Yam and banana graves, particularly in

the Mount Kenya coffee zone, have given way to coffee plantations, which

are orderly arrangements of small trees rather than mixed and densely

forested patches. Valley slopes have also been cleared of forest since

coffee grows well on hillsides above the great diurnal temperature

variation of valleys, yet belm-1 the windswept ridges. 29

The spread of coffee is also responsible for the introduction of

severa! new agricultural techniques. For example, terracing, mulching,

manuring, fertilization, and spraying with insecticides have all become

a part of coffee farmers' knowledge. Although most farmers have not

carried these innovations from coffee to ether crops, and could not

afford to, there has been sorne limited transferral,30

Coffee, then, has brought localized change and economie growth to

the middle altitudes east of Hount Kenya. But the coffee industry is

not without problems. Decreases in quality and hence in payouts, disease,

corruption in the cooperative, and the constrictive nature of the Inter­

national Coffee Agreement sev~rely inhibit further growth. These problems

notwithstanding, it probably is reasonable to judge that coffee sales

~vil! continue to stimulate considerable economie grm-1th.

29R. A. Sands_, 11 Crop Ecolo gy~" Ministry of Agriculture Library, Nairobi, 1961, p. 2. (Typescript,J

30on ten coffee farms visited in the survey, mulching, for example, had been practiced recently on bananas, yams, ana even miraa, a technique respondants insisted, was borrowed from coffee.

Tea

By comparison to coffee, tea acreage in Meru is diminutive (Fig. 11).

In 1965 only 1,555 acres of tea were in cultivation. Yet the tea industry

is expanding more rapidly and is vexed by few of the problems which

currently plague coffee. In the view of many observers of Meru agri­

culture tea has as promising a future as any newly introduced crop.

Tea was first introduced to Meru in 1961 by an agency of the Kenya

government, the Kenya Tea Development Authority, with the establishment

of a European-operated plantation of about one square mile at Michimukuru

in the Southern Nyambenis (Fig. 11). On this estate, which is to be the

cornerstone of r.feru development, a factory has been built to process

green leaf (raw tea) from 700 acres of small-holding tea, in addition

to that from its mm 500 acres. This estate is the only plantation

agriculture in Heru but it is destined to become a small part of total

Meru t ea production. In the few years since its introduction, small

scale acreage has already expanded to three times that of the plantation. 31

The distribution of small scale tea farming at the time of field

study was limited to a small area around the Nyambeni Forest, and to

upper elevations west and south of Meru Town (Fig. 11), where acreage

in 1966 was almost twice that of the Nyambenis.32 But more important

than the current pattern is the future. According to a recent survey,

an area five times as large as the present acreage is ecologically

suited to tea cultivation. Further expansion of tea, however, is con­

tingent upon detailed sail surveys, because tea has completely failed

in two different areas as a result of local sail conditions (Fig. 11).

Except for these failures, tea yields have been extremely high-­

as rouch as three times that of Nyeri on the drier western slopes of

Mount Kenya. 33 Quality has been good also, and early incarne per acre

31Information in this paragraph is derived from a persona! interview with Nr. Protasio Njeru, Meru District Tea Officer, August 8, 1966.

32 In 1966 there were about 555 acres of tea in the Nyambenis, whereas on Hount Kenya there were slightly more than 1,000 acres (data from Meru District Tea Officer).

33John M. PrichardA A GeoÎraphy of East Africa (London: J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 196~), p. o4.

- 28 -

0

--~ 1 1

(

1 1

' \ 1 , ' 1

1 1 l __

"' d '

.....

.... ù

0

1()

" s 1-

-9 " c .,.

\.. 0 0

0

- 29 -

Fig. 11.

1 1 1

MERU DISTRICT \ TEA

1 1 1 1

' 1

\ ~Reg1om where teo 1 hos fo11ed \ ~~ smoll scole

\ 9eo regtons ' - · · Plontat•on tea ', !Nyorrben' Estole)

: PotentKll tee r"egiOI'IS

1

' K 1 i \)

1

- 30 -

has been consistently higher than coffee, though tea requires more labor

input.

The most significant aspect of. the introduction of tea has been

that it has provided high altitude farming areas with a requisite source

of income. These cold, misty regions with acidic soils, 'tvhich were

previously unproductive and undesirable, are now becoming productive

and useful regions. Income levels from tea and introduced dairy cattle

have now reached viability according to Swynnerton's definition.34

Other Cash Crops

Coffee and tea are the preeminent Meru cash crops which have

brought the most widespread and rapid change, but severa! other cash

crops have been introduced locally. Among these are pyrethrum and

wheat in the northern settlement schemes; cotton on the lower schemes,

and in trials in severa! other law altitude locations; and, with little

success, castor and sisal in the eastern lowlands. In addition, miraa

(Catha edulis), a traditional stimulant plant, has continuously expanded

in importance both for local and inter-regional trade.35 It is grown

principally in the Nyambenis.

Food Crops

At the same time that these changes in commercial agriculture

have been taking place, there has been a concurrent transformation of

the staple food economy of Meru. The most notable aspect of this change

has been the displacement of bulrush millet (Pennisetum typhoideum) as

a primary staple grain by maize. This had begun in early colonial times,

when hardier varieties of maize began diffusing from Heru Town.36 At

34Njeru, 1966, ~· cit. (footnote 31). 35 rt was estimated 3,000 acres were devoted to miraa in 1965

(Meru District Agriculture Department, Annua1 Report, 1965, Ministry of Agriculture Library, Nairobi. (Mimeographed,)

36on the early diffusion of maize see Bernard, 1968, QE• cit. (footnote 4), pp. 272-73. ---

- 3.t -

first, bulrush millet and other traditional grains such as finger millet

(Eleusine coracana) and sorghum (Sorghum vulgare) competed successfully

with maize, for maize as a traditional crop had little popularity.

However, by 1950 maize >vas already rapidly displacing millet, and in

the recent period this trend has continued and intensified.

There seems to be at !east four factors in the expansion of maize

at the expense of traditional grains. First, maize has attained a high

leve! of popularity nationally in Kenya.37 This popularity has created

an expanding maize market, particularly in urban areas. In part, the

expansion of maize acreage in Meru has been in response to this growing

market. Second, maize is easier to grow than either millet or sorghum,

because it is less susceptible to disease and needs little or no guarding.

Third, maize has also become popular because it stores well and mills

into better flour than either millet or sorghum. And finally, despite

the less nutritious qualities of maize, it cao thrive on a wide variety

of soils under a broad range of rainfall conditions, and cao yield more

grain in good seasons than either millet or sorghum.

Other changes in Neru staple food crops include the diffusion of

\>7hite or "English" potatoes (Ipomea batatus) to upper altitudes, which

is a direct response to settlement of cool, moist regions, \vhere tradi­

tional grains and pulses yield poorly. Improved varieties of haricot

bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) have also spread widely along with maize as a

subsidiary food crop, displacing traditional pulses such as pigeon peas

(Cajanus cajun), cow peas (Vigna uginculata), and the hyacinth bean

(Dolichos lablab). Their diffusion has been encouraged both by their

hardy and high-yielding qualities and the fact that they can grow in

two seasons each year.

The present staple food crop map, therefore,represents a marked

agricultural change from traditional times (Fig, 12). Whereas only 20

or 30 years ago millet and sorghum would have dominated in both highland

and lowland agricultural systems, today, throughout the highlands, maize

37A. M. O'Connor, An Economie Geography ~East Africa (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1966), p. 50.

0

--, 1 1

(

1 1

' \

1 )

'1 1 1

h-- .... , ~

()

10 ......

/ .s

)'

"~

-9 / c

1

\.. 0 0

- 32

\ \ 1

Fig. 12.

1 1

\

1 1 1 1 1

STAPLE CROPS OF MERU

1

- 33 -

bas become a co-staple. Only in the loH-lying eastern region, where

aridity prohibits the cultivation of maize, does millet retain its

traditional significance. In areas of greatest economie growth, maize

and beans have almost completely replaced millet, sorghum, and tradi­

tional pulses (e.g., the Mount Kenya middle altitudes). In remoter

areas, such as the Nyambenis, where traditional values persist, well­

liked traditional pulses or grains, rather than beans, maintain their

position as secondary crops along with maize. In higher altitudes

maize is usually a co-staple with "English" potatoes.

With the demise of millet, significant alterations in !ife and

landscape have occurred. Rapidly disappearing are a host of culture

traits associated with millet cultivation. Now seen with decreasing

frequency in the highlands are communal threshing and winnmving parties,

the distinctive muuru or millet granary, the patchy pattern of dung­

plastered threshing grounds, elevated guarding stands, and the eerie

nocturnal crack of the sling. Disappearing also is the he avy consump­

tion of porridge made from millets and sorghum, grinding stones, millet

beer, and broadcast sowing associated with finger millet. In short,

the spread of maize, like so many of the recent agricultural changes,

bas brought practices and patterns of life, which, in turn, have

markedly affected other aspects of Meru culture and cultural landscape.

Conclusions

The changes which have come to agriculture east of Mount Kenya

have thus occurred in a milieu of rapid transition from subsistence

to market economy, from colonialism to independence, from isolation and

remoteness to economie integration. In this remarkable era of flux,

what are the implications of these changes for Meru and for other com­

parable African regions?

First, the heterogeneous environment of Meru bas important dis­

advantages for some of the agricultural changes of recent years. The

goal of self-subsistence in food plus a modest annual profit for all

- 34 -

peasant farmers is not everywhere feasible in such a diverse setting,

particularly where population is dense and farms are small. All farmers

cannat grow the food crops they need, because, as has been obvious in

this study, on a mountain slope, different ecologie zones favor different

agricultural pursuits. The traditional system was an adjustment to this

reality, but with consolid~tion and enclosure, use of all the mountain

slope by each farming unit is no longer possible.

Instead, regional specialization has developed, and in areas where

non-food cash crops can be raised, often the temptation has been to plant

cash crops to the exclusion of food crops. ~vith such specialization,

market exchange is, of course, necessary. The implication is clear.

Unless a farmer can gain substantial income from his cash crop, he will

consume most of his earnings in purchasing food and have little left for

school fees, taxes, consumer goods, and further investment in his land.

Unfortunately, this has already been the trend in severa! coffee-growing

areas of Meru, and one can foresee a similar occurrence in tea-producing

regions. In the long run, these trends may produce tensions that never

existed before the introduction of cash crops and consolidation.

Second, the Meru case demonstrates the risks of concentrating

energies and capital in high and medium potential regions while neglecting

lower potential country. Almost all changes described herein--consolida­

tion, resettlement, cash crop development, and changes in techniques--have

occurred in country above the 4,000 foot contour. The agriculture of

sorne 20,000 lmvland peoples in Meru,therefore,is still traditional in

techniques and crops, yet it is now out of balance with its setting

because of rapid population growth.

The implication of such differentia! development is that, while

agricultural production is being enhanced in favored areas, large regions

act parasitically to mitigate overall economie growth. This is especially

true in famine years, when throughout Kenya the national surplus of food

grains must be used for famine relief.

On the other hand, if efforts had been directed long aga to low

potential areas, using irrigation, bush clearing, the introduction of

drought-resistant strains of food crops, and improvement of the

- 35 -

infrastructure, development in medium and high potential agricultural

regions would no'-1 have grea ter significance. Moreover, social services

and health and education facilities would not be so inequitably distributed

as they are now, and there would not be the tremendous gap that exists

between highland and lowland in Meru and elsewhere in Kenya.

Third, Meru's patterns of agricultural change are altering the

spatial-economie structure of the district, and exemplify patterns of

development in many parts of the world. For example, the increasing nodal

or focal tendencies of coffee production and other economie activities

has been noted. Tea production has also begun to focus on the southern

Nyambenis and the area west and south of Meru To~m. These tendencies

toward concentration are trends which intensify with each passing year

and reinforce the dominance of a few central places such as Meru Town,

Maua, the Chogoria area, Igoji, Nkubu, and Chuka.

At the same time, smaller central places, usually markets, are

attaining focal character for more limited areas. At many such locations,

in addition to the market place, schools, churches, and government offices

add to the nodal tendencies of transportation and the flot-7 of people and

goods. Horeover, this hierarchy of central places together with their

interconnections seems to be creating a functional region in Meruland

in which most parts are dependent upon the market to sorne degree. This

is a spatial and economie change of great magnitude, for only two decades

ago rouch of Meru was isolated from roads and communication and from

the market place, and Heru as a whole was poorly connected to Nairobi.

Fourth, the case of Meru illustrates the far-reaching consequences

of change as it occurs in an integrated, functioning cultural whole. The

replacement of millet by maize, for example, on the surface is a relatively

isolated change. But as a result, it has had important secondary and

tertiary effects, involving the disappearance of an entire complex of

culture traits associated with millet cultivation. Similarly, introduc­

tion of cash crops has caused unforeseen changes in food production, and

consolidation has practically revamped Meru agricultural !ife.

- 36 -

Such changes, comn1on elsewhere in the world where Western ideas

have affected agriculture, can easily upset pre-established social,

economie, and ecologie balances. The decrease in dietary standards in

the Chogoria area is a tertiary imbalance of some gravity. Conversely,

new balances and levels of production may be established as one or a

number of changes transpire. Improved labor input, for instance, seems

to have evolved on Meru farms with the introduction of coffee, and tea

production has infused upper altitudes with new economie life blood.

Finally, African economie and social considerations such as popula­

tion growth rates, decreasing amounts of land, increasing needs for social

services and rising consumer demanda all emphasize the fact that well

thought-out, comprehensive agricultural development plans are needed.

This is especially critical when one remembers that nine of every ten

Africans derive their living from farming. Meru has shown that by far

the most important agricultural changes have been introduced through

such programs. Spontaneous horizontal change is no longer sufficient

to meet current demands. In Meru and throughout Africa introduced

agricultural change must continue not only to be comprehensive, but also

to be conceived in full awareness of the total environment in which it

will take place.

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CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES OHIO UNIVERSITY

0 hio V niversity, through teaching, research, publication, and public service, offers opportunities for students and citizens of the United States and other countries to obtain knowledge about the peoples of the world. This endeavor is founded on the belief that an appreciation of different values and institutions increases understanding between peoples, enriches the lives of individuals, and assists all in forming opinions on issues which affect the growing world community. The principal means of conducting teaching and research activities is the Center for International Studies which was established in 1964.

The center assists academie departments in planning and in developing undergraduate and graduate courses and curricula dealing with Mrica, Asia, and Latin America and assists in the recruiting of scholars to teach these courses. It encourages and supports faculty research and publication. Each year the center sponsors lectures and visitors on campus and hasts meetings of scholars. The center plans and establishes priorities for the acquisition of library and other resource materials and for the development of Asian and Mrican language instruction. The center represents the University in academie and professional bodies in the United States and overseas. It assists with the development of opportunities for study abroad and for foreign students to study at Ohio University. It encourages the University's association with institutions of higher learning in other countries.

The center sponsors and supports an African Studies Program and a Southeast Asian Studies Program. These programs bring together faculty members who hold appointments in different departments and colleges of the University to plan and develop teaching and research activities. In 1968-69, more than 30 faculty members taught African and Asian courses. A Master of Arts degree in foreign affairs is offered by the center.

Specifie information about the center programs and activities may be obtained by writing to the Director, Center for International Studies, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701.