# 2. Women as smallholder farmers

a. verview Agriculture is the core of Kenya's economy, smallholders are the core of Kenya's agriculture, and women are the core of the country's smallholders. Agriculture remains the backbone of the Kenyan economy providing employment for 70 percent of the population, contributing about one-third of GDP and generating 50 to 60 percent of foreign exchange earnings (World Bank, 1986).

Smallholders are the core of Kenya's agricultural sector: they produce three-fourths of the country's total agricultural output and over half of marketed output. Smallholders produce a major proportion of the domestically produced foodstuffs and cash crops. For example, they produce 70 percent of maize (including 50 percent of marketed maize), most of the milk and meat, and nearly all rice and pulses. They also are responsible for 64 percent of coffee production, 50 percent of tea exports and all of the country's cotton and pyretheum (World Bank, 1986). The smallholder sector, however, is heterogeneous. Within the sector, there are large differences in size of landholdings, resource endowments, cropping patterns (the relative emphasis of food and cash crops) and off-farm employment opportunities.

Maize is, by far the most important food crop for smallholders tLnroughout Kenya, produced in at least a third of the land area under a wide range of ecological conditions. Although the demand for maize is significantly higher in rural Kenya, on average, maize comprises 78 percent of the populations' cereal intake on average and more than 40 percent of total calorie consumption. Maize is particularly important for low income households. Home produced maize accounts for only two-thirds of smallholder consumption, with the remaining amount being purchased in the Zorm of grain or flour (Maritim, 1985). Women's time constraints influence their purchases of maize flour. In Turkana, for example, women were found to economize on their domestic labor by selling their maize and purchasing maize flour (Dey, 1984).

The increasing shortage of arable land is becoming a critical issue for smallholders. Population pressure has led to the fragmentation of landholdings, rising numbers of landless and near-landless, and the movement of people from land-scarce areas to more marginal areas (Herz, 1974). Those unable to live off their land are seeking wage employment or other forms of off-farm employment (ILO, 1986). The Government of Keaya has stated that it requires 2.5 to 3.5 acres of high potential land to provide sustenance for a family using traditional farming techniques (Senga, 1981 cited in World Bank, 1989). But by the year 2000, it is estimated that there will be less than half an acre of high potential land per person (World Bank, 1989). Although estimates vary and seasonal variations matter, a growing number of smallholders are becoming unable to provide an adequate diet for their families (Wisner, 1986).

Women generally gain use rights over land use through their husbands. Title to land almost always goes to men who continue to allocate land informally to their wives. While women are legally permitted to buy land, very few actually do. The price of land, women's limited independent income and employment 4