Aspects of a peasant mode of production: exchange and the extent of sufficiency among smallholders in West Laikipia, Kenya
Sottas, B.
Journal of Asian and African Studies 27(3/4): 271-295
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-9096 DOI: 10.1177/002190969202700307Document Number: 329289
The Laikipia Plain in the north-western foothills of Mount Kenya is one of the semi-arid areas where migrating Kikuyu cultivators go for land and permanent residence. However, unfavourable ecological and economic conditions create contradictions, and many households risk a fall into marginality. This paper re-examines the thesis that the extent of a household's self sufficiency level can rise if mutual exchange within a network is practised.