ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on field work in three rural Kenyan communities: Katheka, Mbusyani, and Gilgil. Each lies within a 90 minute drive of Nairobi. The field work reviewed activity in each of the communities, based on earlier analyses and action plans which were designed to strengthen capacities of community institutions to carry out effective natural resource management and production. The methodology drew on conventional data gathering instruments, including questionnaires. The field team also relied heavily on group discussions and interactive data analysis, using techniques derived from Participatory Rural Appraisal. The findings suggest that explicit attention to commercial crops well-suited to rainfed, dryland agricultural conditions would be more appropriate than Katheka’s agricultural practices. The chapter concludes that a major new effort to work with small, commercial, income generating farmers in the drylands will assist poor and small farmers, such as those in Katheka, who are quickly running out of options.
