UCSB Anthropology Brown Bag Lecture Series Presents:
Coping with Adversity: Intensive Fariming Systems, Agtodiversity, and Diet Under
Conditions of Extreme Population Pressure in Western Kenya
By Dr. Mirian Chaiken and Dr. Tom Conelly
Rapid population growth in rural areas of Kenya has placed greater and
greater pressure on scarce land resources. One response by farmers to
land scarcity has been intensification of agricultural production with
the adoption of permanent cropping as well as complex techniques of
erosion control and soil fertility maintenance. This paper looks at the
highly intensive agricultural system of the Luhya people living in
Kakamega District in western Kenya. This is one of the most densely
populated areas in Africa, where typical farm size is less than one
hectare.
Although intensification is often seen as a process of specialization
leading to a decline in crop variety, Luhya farmers maintain a
remarkable level of agro-diversity as part of the intensification
process. This agro-diversity includes complex patterns of
intercropping, polyvariety, a reliance on multi-purpose crops, close
integration of livestock and crops, and the use of multiple ecological
zones. After discussing the farming system, we conclude by looking at
household nutrition and trying to answer two questions: what is the
impact of very dense population and intensive agriculture on the
quality of diet? Does a high degree of agro-diversity, despite land
scarcity, translate into a varied and nutritionally adequate diet?
Tom Conelly and Miriam Chaiken are both alumni of UCSB's Anthropology
Department. Conelly conducted doctoral research on agricultural change
in the Philippines under the direction of David Brokensha, DE Brown,
and Mike Jochim. Chaiken's research, also in the Philippines, examined
spontaneous frontier migration and was supervised by DE Brown, David
Brokensha, Phil Walker, and Thayer Scudder (Cal Tech). After finishing
his Ph.D. in 1983, Conelly received a Rockefeller Foundation social
science fellowship and worked on farming systems research programs in
Kenya (1984-1988) with several international agricultural research
organizations. He taught at Oberlin College and is currently an
Associate Professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). Recent
publications include two articles in Human Ecology. Chaiken also spent
several years working in Kenya as an applied anthropology consultant,
primarily dealing with rural health care delivery, working with
organizations such as UNICEF and ILO. She recently published an article
in Research in Economic Anthropology and has co-edited a festschrift in
honor of Professor Brokensha, which includes articles by other former
UCSB alumni. She is Professor and department Chair at IUP. They are
currently enjoying a sabbatical leave in residence at the Department of
Anthropology at UCSB.
Wednesday April 9 at 1pm, 1997
HSSB 2001A, The Anthropology Conference Room
