ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the research questions using four main data collection tools: An indigenous chickens (IC) farmer group survey assessed dynamics of the sector, including individual and farmer-group ownership, as well as issues covering the life cycle of the birds themselves, including health, housing, feeding, breeding, and marketing. Focus Group Discussions assessed the contribution of subsistence-oriented backyard IC enterprises to household food sufficiency, income, and ecological well-being. Key Informant Interviews were carried out with farmers and public officials in Makueni, exploring questions of agricultural extension, markets, and policies. And a gender survey examined power dynamics in the farming system, including issues of decision-making, access to and ownership of resources, and gendered divisions of labour. The chapter reviews class conflict by using the nested economies concept to analyse relations of contention and change between and among the three economies of subsistence, markets and nature.
