Challenges And Opportunities Of Land Tenure And Land Sub-Division Trends On Rice Production In Irrigation Schemes In Kenya

Abstract

With an ever-increasing population and erratic weather patterns threatening food security, there is need to focus on increasing production of staples such as rice.in the large scale rice schemes. Globally, rice is one of the most important food crops used in the fight against hunger. Rice consumption in Kenya has been increasing annually at a rate of 12% but, despite the huge production potential in the country, there has been little growth in its production leading to a deficit of 255,000 metric tons annually. One of the factors leading to the fluctuation in the production of rice is attributed to issues related to land especially in terms of tenure and size. This study, investigated the influence of land tenure and land subdivision trends on rice production in rice irrigation schemes in Kenya, using the Mwea Rice Irrigation Scheme as a case study. The specific objectives were to examine the land tenure evolution in the last 50 years and the corresponding effect on rice production, assess the influence of household land tenancy on rice production, establish the influence of farmers’ land size on rice production, establish the land-based challenges influencing rice production, and propose land tenure, land size and technological strategies that can be adopted to ensure optimal rice production in Mwea Irrigation Scheme. A Cross-Sectional study design was used. A total of 167 households selected from the rice producers in the study area were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Five in-depth key informants interviews were also conducted using unstructured interview guides. Related literature was also examined. The findings revealed that all the rice irrigation scheme land belongs to the government and is administered by NIB. Farmers are tenants and are required to grow only rice and no other crop. This is positive for rice production and is a policy that should continue to avoid change of rice land to other uses. There have been complaints on how land administration is conducted but this is being corrected through the management by the multipurpose cooperative. Each farmer was initially allocated 4 acres of land. Considering the minimum requirement of Kshs. 195,020 to sustain an average household of 5 persons, only 1.5 acres is required. The four acres can therefore sustain 2.5 households if farmed optimally. The challenge of land size, however, is that households have increased and although it is illegal to sub-divide the land, this has been done to some extent but informally. The rate of this informal sub-division v stands at 7% calculated by current average land size versus the land issued at the intial stage. The rate is fairly small and this is attributed to the close monitoring of land use and ownership by the NIB management. The sub-division among heirs reduces the per capita land unit for farming hence total production. Further sub-division can be stopped by expanding the irrigation land so that new households that wish to be full time rice farmers are given their own 2 acres to farm in new blocks. When the initial registered farmer is no longer able to farm, the 4 acres should be given to only two heirs in the family to continue farming. If no family member is interested in farming, the land should revert to NIB for allocation to other interested new farmer-tenants. Other identified challenges to rice farming include insufficient water, poor rice varieties, inadequate management and technical capacity, low capacity of processing facilities, poor research support, and unfair competition from imports. Although there have been some institutional conflicts, the government should intervene in all the challenges for the sake of food and livelihood security.