This document summarizes findings from a case study of three different farming models - a plantation model, commercial farming model, and outgrower model - in Meru, Kenya. The key findings are: 1) Land ownership and size varies significantly across models, with the largest holdings in the plantation and less than 1 hectare for most outgrowers. 2) Employment also differs greatly, with the plantation offering higher-skilled permanent roles while commercial farms and outgrowers rely on casual labor. 3) Livelihood strategies include accumulation through non-farm income reinvestment for commercial farmers, and outgrower schemes providing independent income sources especially for women. 4) Local economic linkages are

1. 2017 Conference on Land Policy in Africa
Addis Ababa, 14-17 November 2017
Cyriaque Hakizimana, Paul Goldsmith, Abdirizak Nunow, Jane Biashara and Adano Roba
Land and Agricultural Commercialisation
in Kenya: Evidence from Three Farming Models

2. LOCATION OF THE CASE STUDIES IN MERU

3. PLANTATION MODEL – KISIMA
FARM
• Established as a sheep ranch in
1920
• Currently owned by fourth-
generation Kenyans of British
origin
• Size: 6000 ha
• Crop: Cereals, certified potato
seeds, horticulture, and floriculture
• On-farm processing and marketing
of Kisima flour and canola oil
• Distance to Meru Town: 34 km

4. COMMERCIAL FARMING MODEL
(COFFEE)
• Medium-scale commercial coffee
farms
• But not necessarily contiguous
• Wide diversity among the
commercial coffee farmers in terms
of scale, full/part-time farming, and
the availability of off-farm income.
• Labour intensive
• Rain fed
• Distance to Meru Town: 17km

5. OUTGROWER MODEL
(FRENCH BEANS)
• Smallholder growers
• Average land size: 0.5 hectares
• Small amount of their land is allocated
to the contract crop (French beans)
• Two contracting companies are
involved: Frigoken and Finlays
• These two companies do not have
nucleus estates in the focal area
• Distance to Meru Town: 14km

6. Land: No evidence for a homogeneous peasantry – Coexistence of landed
and (semi)landless classes
• Shrinking land size and
land fragmentation.
• Participation of labourer
and outgrower households
in the local land market is
very limited.
• Off-farm income is an
important differentiating
factor particularly in the
commercial focal area.
• Reproduction of the
historical patterns of social
differentiation
Plantation Commercial Outgrower
PH CH NH Tota
l
CH NH Tota
l
CH OH NH Total
Owned Land size
(ha)
0.6 0.3 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.8 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
% of households
that inherited land
88 82 76 78 90 76 86 100 90 79 86
% of households
that bought land
11 6 7 8 5 13 10 0 6 10 7

7. Labour: Scale and quality of employment are
highly diverse across the three models
Plantation Commercial Outgrower
Permanent Casual Permanen
t
Casual Permanent Casual
% of workers
in the
farming
model
5.78 6.08 1.75 12.97 1.80 11.68
% of workers
with primary
/ no
education
26.32 60.0
0
42.86 71.16 50.00 71.80
% of workers
with
secondary
education
42.11 40.0
0
57.14 28.85 50.00 28.21
% of workers
with tertiary
education
31.58 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
• Plantation employs more highly
skilled people and offers better
employment conditions but
only for permanent workers
(mostly men).
• Commercial farms and
outgrowers create highly
casualized, seasonal, insecure
and poorly paid employment.
• Plantation tends to exacerbate
social differentiation
• Labour practices on
commercial farms and
outgrowers have an element of
high fluidity and social
embeddedness.

8. Livelihood: Evidence for accumulation from
above in the coffee sector
• Stepping in, stepping up,
and stepping out
accumulation strategies
• Accumulation driven by
investments from the
non-farm income
streams
• Accumulation including
land expansion,
diversification of crops
and sources of income

9. Livelihood: No evidence for full proletarianization in the plantation area
except for migrant workers
• Successful smallholder production
particularly for the first generation of
the settlers
• Second generation of the settlers
combine wage labour with their land-
based livelihoods due to land
fragmentation
• Labourer households sell their labour
at Kisima Farm while also hiring in
labour
• Proletarianization of migrant workers
living in the on-farm labour camps

10. Livelihood: Outgrower sector is an important
strategy for women accumulation
• Production of French beans is
highly gendered
• Dynamic relationship between the
production of the crop to supply
the companies, securing access to
land and the casual labour market
• Independent source of income for
women

11. Livelihood: Different intergenerational
trajectories
• Stepping out of agriculture
in commercial and
outgrower focal areas
• Staying and combining
farming and wage
employment in the
plantation focal area
• Children of commercial
farmers/ some skilled
permanent workers
acquiring quality education

12. Local economic linkages: Outgrowers are much more integrated in the local
economy both in terms of inputs and output markets
• Kisima Farm is poorly
integrated in the local
economy and has weak
localized economy
linkages.
• The commercial coffee
farms and outgrowers tend
to be quite dynamically
integrated into the local
economy
• Outgrowers contribute
significantly to the
dynamism of rural towns

13. Conclusion
• Dynamics of concentration and fragmentation of land reinforces
historical pattern of social differentiation.
• Accumulation happening in commercial sector, largely through
investment from elsewhere, presents a mid-point between outgrower
and plantation in terms of local economy linkages.
• The combination of wage employment and own farming is important
basis for livelihoods particularly in the area that was affected by land
redistribution.
• The outgrower scheme is significant for women accumulation.