Pre-colonial Luo land tenure systems and agricultural practices in Awendo sub county, Kenya

Abstract

This paper examined the pre-colonial Luo land tenure systems and agricultural practices in Awendo Sub County, Kenya. The objective was to account for the pre-colonial land tenure systems of the Luo and agricultural practices in Awendo Sub County. The study adopted a descriptive research design. Snowball sampling was used based on Coleman, J.S the definitions. The literature review pursued the empirical literature review. This work utilized the Modernization theory and used sample questions for interviews, archival sources and observational methods for data collection. Data were analyzed, summarized and presented in continuous prose. The findings revealed that the Luo are strongly attached to land, as land appears to mean more than is generally assumed. Land has different meanings and is not just a resource that is required for agricultural production. Further, the findings have shown that women do not normally inherit cultivation rights but acquire them mainly through marriage. Women‟s rights are only ancillary, depending on allocations from their husbands. Their position regarding land can also be seen from the angle of matrilineal relationships in a patrilineal society. Women are the ones who work the land most of the time and obtain rights in their post-marital homesteads by devolution from their mothers-in-law.