This project involves the dissertation research of an anthropology student from Washington University-St. Louis on the effects of women's land tenure security on agricultural productivity in Kenya. The student, a native speaker of the local language, will conduct a survey of agricultural practices and output on a randomly selected set of 120 households after participant observation and in-depth ethnographic fieldwork to learn the important variables and issues which affect farm productivity. The hypotheses to be tested involve the assumption that the greater the degree of women's security about land the more productive their farming will be. This research is important because aside from training students in economic anthropology the knowledge to be gained will advance our understanding of causes of variations of productivity in African agriculture. This information will be useful to local and international planners as they develop programs to solve the problem of food production in Africa.
