A Historical Analysis of Agrarian Land Use Systems and Their Cultural Significance Among the Luo of Nyanza, Kenya, 1895- 1963

Abstract

This paper examines how colonial agrarian policies transformed the traditional Luo land use systems and reshaped cultural practices in Nyanza, Kenya between 1895 and 1963. In the Literature review section, the archival and secondary sources were used. The modernisation theory was also used to trace the transition from communal to individualized land tenure. This theory analyzed colonial data in reference to their precolonial land systems.  The researcher conducted a comprehensive literature review using secondary sources to gather pertinent data for this study. The finding showed that the colonial land alienation, cash crop introduction, and th Swynnerton Plan disrupted communal structures, leading to socio-cultural and ecologhical consequences that persist today. These consequences include, conflicts, tensions, social stratification, reduced subsistence production of traditional crops, food shortage, , less dietary, and general depletion of biodiversity, undermined ecological balance and further fosterd environmental degradation. The data derived from archival sources reveal that the colonial administration prioritised the introduction of new crops and the disruption of traditional agrarian land patterns among the Luo, while imposing Westernisation, rather than reinforcing native interests. in conclusion, the Luo land tenure reflect a dynamic interplay of ecology, culture, and history, offering resilience and vulnerabilities of smallholder farming in a rapidly changing world. These systems were not merely economic strategies but embodied cultural identities, social cohesion, and sustainable relationships with the land. However, colonial land alienation, post-independence privatization, and the global push for cash crops disrupted these equilibria, fragmenting communal tenure, eroding soil health, and deepening socio-economic inequalities.