| dc.description.abstract | The study aimed at an assessment of the effects of the rural male outmigration
on the rural family's farm production level.
The problem of rural male out-migration is traced back to the pre-colonial,
colonial and neo-colonial era in Kenya and is seen as a creation of the process
of the development of a capitalist economy.
The research instrument was a standardized interview schedule made up of
both closed and open-ended Questions. It was interviewer-administered to 132
randomly sampled female heads' of households. In the absence of an existing
sampling frame a census was first carried out. A target population of 1056
households was compiled.
The assumptions on which the study was based were:- That remittances by the
migrant male head of the household would lead to a declined farm production
capacity; secondly. that the control in and of the rural resources by the wife
of the migrant would lead to an improved farm production level and thirdly, that
the changes in the division of labour would influence negatively the family's
farm production capacity. These were tested using percentages, contingency tables
and Pearson coefficients.
Only the second of the assumptions proved true. Women who take over
managerial farm functions were found to do it efficiently leading to a rise in
the farm production level.It was largely indicated that farm production may
achieve greater enhancement where and when the female ·head' is left to control
the rural income and other resources. Clearly, the farm production capacity had
risen in both expansion and output, where the female "head" budgeted and operated
her own bank account, had secured an off farm job, had procured a loan or some
sort of credit facilities and/or was in charge of cooperative affairs (financial
and non-financial) with the exception in some instances of cash crop farming.
It was found that direct access to and control of income and other rural
resources by women particularly in the absence of the male heads of households
is of paramount importance for the development of a sustainable farm production
capacity and family socio-economic status.
Whereas a slight improvement in the level of farm production was indicated
where remittances were available, any negative effect on the household's farm
production capacity was disproved. Despite the fact that they were receiving
regular remittances from·the urban-based head of household, the households still
saw the need to carry on and step up their level of farm production.
Changes in the division of labour did not negatively affect the household's
level of farm production either, contrary to one of the study's hypothesis. Not
many households were able to revamp their sources of labour through hired labour
or the contribution of hosted dependents for obvious reasons. Whether they get
overburdened or violate sex-role taboos,the women are able to sustain and even
improve the level of farm production despite the loss of their husband's labour.
The stage for this study is set in the historical materialist approach
through two of its concepts, namely the modes of production and the reproduction ,
of labour. They have been here employed to highlight the level of intensification
and distribution of labour by the females in the absence of their. male
counterparts, thus ensuring the sustainabi1ity of their households.
Through the dependency and underdevelopment theories therefore, it is found
that the rural conmunities in Kenya serve to subsidize the development of
capitalism at their own expense in that the typical migratory worker in Kenya | en |
