Rural Land Subdivision And Its Impact On Household Maize Production

Abstract

Globally, around three million hectares of agricultural land is lost each year to other land uses. This results in a huge decline in household food production. In addition, rural land subdivision and the resultant encroachment by residential development is a threat to food production. Maintaining rural land in optimally sized allotments is critical for sustainable primary food production. Sustainable natural resource management and increased productivity of primary industries can also be assured by ensuring that economically viable land sizes are maintained. The literature reviewed indicates that there is limited information on land sub-division trends and its associated impacts in the settlement schemes of Kenya. It is also not clear whether there are any development control measures in the rural area land use especially in Kiminini sub-county. This study investigated the trend of rural land subdivision in Kiminini Sub-county from 1963 to 2018. It examined the causes of rural land subdivision in the sub-county, determined the impacts of rural land subdivision on household maize production in the study area, and has proposed policy interventions to reduce rural land subdivision in Kiminini for food and livelihood security. A cross-sectional survey of 120 households was conducted. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews and observations were also used to collect data. The findings have revealed that household land size has decreased from the initial 30 acres in 1963 to 1.5 acres in 2018 leading to a reduction in maize production from the potential 600 (90 kgs) bags per household to 30 (90kgs bags), a 95% reduction. At the yield of 20 bags/acre, 5 acres would be required per household of 5 persons. If the yield is doubled to 40 bags/acre, only 2.5 acres of land will be required. The main causes of land sub-division were found to be for inheritance, selling, population pressure and poor implementation of policies. There was no land use plan for the sub-county to guide both rural and urban land use and there were no guidelines to regulate development. The study recommends land use planning through development of a local physical development plan, determination of a minimum land size for maize growing zones, agricultural land protection zoning where land zoned for agriculture cannot be converted to other uses, formulation of rural land use guidelines, policy review of the land inheritance tradition to guide land rights transmission such as farmers leasing land for 50-60 years for farming from government and not being allowed to sub-divide, consolidation where it has been subdivided to uneconomic units and promotion of alternative technology for intensive and sustainable agricultural practices that require little land.