Post-independence agricultural modernization and women’s technology adoption in Homa Bay District, Kenya, 1963–1985

Abstract

Post-independence Kenya placed agricultural modernization at the centre of national development through the promotion of improved seeds, fertilizers, mechanization, extension services, credit, cooperatives and commercial agriculture. However, the extent to which these initiatives transformed women’s access to agricultural technologies at the local level remains insufficiently understood. This article assesses how post-independence government agricultural policies and modernization strategies shaped women’s access to and adoption of agricultural technologies and influenced food production in Homa Bay District between 1963 and 1985. The study adopted a historical research design within an interpretivist orientation and was guided by Post-Colonial Feminist Theory and Techno-Feminism Theory. It drew on archival records, national and district development plans, oral interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and secondary sources. The broader study involved 80 respondents, comprising 56 individually interviewed participants and 24 participants in three focus group discussions, selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Data were analysed qualitatively using thematic and content analysis, with oral, archival and secondary evidence corroborated across sources. The findings show that state-led modernization expanded access to fertilizers, hybrid seeds, mechanization, extension services, land registration, cooperatives and agricultural markets. However, women’s access remained constrained by male-dominated land ownership, credit requirements, cooperative membership, household authority and institutional definitions of the recognized farmer. Women therefore adopted technologies selectively by combining improved and indigenous seeds, fertilizers and organic soil-management practices, communal labour, informal exchange and group-based resource pooling. The United Nations Decade for Women and organizations such as Maendeleo Ya Wanawake widened opportunities for training, savings and collective action but did not fundamentally alter gendered control over land and capital-intensive technologies. The study concludes that post-independence agricultural modernization produced technological expansion without corresponding gender equality in access, control and benefits. It recommends gender-responsive agricultural policies that strengthen women’s land rights, direct access to credit and extension services, participation in cooperatives, and access to affordable labour-saving technologies while integrating women’s indigenous agricultural knowledge into food-security programmes.