Metropolitan Concern, Colonial State Policy and the Embargo on Cultivation of Coffee by Africans in Colonial Kenya: the Example of Bungoma District, 1930–1960

I

The widespread involvement of African peasant households in the cultivation of a high-value cash crop—coffee—in Kenya dates back only to the mid-1950s. However, this late inclusion of African households in coffee cultivation did not imply their lack of enthusiasm to cultivate the crop from an earlier date. On the contrary, European settlers in particular, and some officials of the Department of Agriculture, thwarted the aspirations of African households regarding their being permitted to cultivate coffee. The overall view was in favor of the continued imposition of an embargo on African coffee cultivation. This paper employs mainly archival records to trace the agitation for inclusion in coffee cultivation by African households in colonial Kenya generally. It then treats the specific case example of Bungoma district in western Kenya from the 1930s.

Through a review of official correspondence between colonial officials in Kenya and metropolitan authorities at the colonial secretariat in London, the paper shows how such agitation conflicted with the interests of European settlers and the policies that were privileged by the Department of Agriculture in African areas within Kenya. It demonstrates that when colonial state policy shifted (due to metropolitan and local pressure) in favor of African household involvement in coffee cultivation, the latter proved themselves to be efficient cultivators of the crop. The influence of metropolitan pressures on the eventual trajectory of colonial state policy in Kenya also demonstrates that the actions of colonial proconsuls in the colony did not always reflect the wishes of the colonial secretariat in London. This was moreso the case in Kenya, where a small but politically potent segment of European settlers exerted tremendous influence on the policies that were pursued by the colonial state.¹

II

Strong objections to African involvement in coffee cultivation emanated from European settler farmers.² Varied factors were cited to justify prohibition of African involvement in the cultivation of coffee when demands from households intensified in the early 1930s.³ European settlers reasoned that it would involve a risk of the spread of disease and pests, which no reasonable zone of separation between African and European plantations could prevent. Second, they contended that there was a certainty of theft as soon as Africans had coffee of their own with which stolen coffee berries from European plantations could be mixed. As far as S.G. Gare was concerned, for instance, "African women coffee pickers on European estates would not give half of their pickings to the European owner."⁴

In addition, the opposition to African involvement in coffee-growing also revolved around the argument that it could not be made to pay. This was supposedly because coffee needed constant skilled attention and artificial manures, which European settlers reasoned were entirely beyond the Africans' scope. It was therefore contended that the African would get less money by engaging in coffee cultivation than he could make through laboring for a wage.⁵ Another reason cited to rationalize discrimination against African involvement in coffee cultivation was that Kenyan coffee enjoyed such a good reputation on the world market that it needed to be safeguarded. Permitting African involvement in coffee cultivation would jeopardize this reputation, since the assumption was that African-grown coffee would be of inferior quality.

Essentially, all these arguments bordered on the fear of competition from African cultivators. European settler farmers sought to protect their monopoly with respect to the lucrative coffee crop. Furthermore, European settler opposition became more intense during the early 1930s; owing to the prevailing global economic depression, an increase in coffee acreage which would inevitably result from African involvement was bound to exacerbate the problems of the coffee sector in dealing with high levels of production against low external demand and a depressed market.⁶ Another underlying concern of European settlers derived from the potential loss of laborers. Settlers dreaded the fact that viable economic alternatives for Africans would dissipate the supply of laborers and influence an appreciation in the remuneration rates for the scarce available labor.^7...