Land Use Patterns in Pre-Colonial Kwale County, Kenya

Abstract

While previous studies have captured the issues of decline in agricultural production and land degradation in the Kenya coastal region as described by Gichobi and Kungu (2020) and Omondi (2010) little attention has been paid to understanding the direct and long-term effects of the precolonial state's land policies on coastal Kenya. The objective of this study was to land use patterns in pre-colonial Kwale County, Kenya. The aim was to reconstruct pre-colonial land use trajectories in Kwale County. The methodology used was the historical qualitative approach, it employed the Elite Theory (Vilfredo Pareto) and Articulation of the Modes of Production Theory (based on Marxist framework by Jean Copans), providing a framework to analysis the impact of structure-power relations on access to land. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. The archives contained the precolonial government administrative reports, government reports, land records and legal texts, whereas forty oral interviews were conducted. They were sampled using the purposive sampling and snow-ball sampling methods. For secondary sources research includes monographs, journal articles and dissertations dealing with land governance and food security systems. The findings have also revealed that Mijikenda community of pre-colonial Kwale County was organized in common ownership of land, co-operative efforts and firm cultural values which influenced their farming, pastoral and forestry practices. These methods were sustainable, spiritual, fostered social unity and protected the natural resource and maintained food security with a larger picture of very strong social and political organization. The pre-colonial land management practices of the Mijikenda people in Kwale County represented a paradigm of ingrained community system linking livelihoods, governance, spirituality and land care in maintaining agricultural production, community solidarity, and traditions. The study will therefore be beneficial to local administrators, government, development organizations in their pursuit for sustainable land governance in Kwale County, an issue closely related to endemic food insecurity and injustices in the region. The study adds region based analysis in the already available literature on the subject thus boosting land-rights campaigns and offering research material for studies on the nexus of land tenure, development and food security.