TY - JOUR
T1 - Sustainable agriculture or sustained error? The case of cotton in Kirinyaga, Kenya
AU - Castro, Alfonso Peter
N1 - Funding Information:
*Support for fieldwork in Kenya during 19X2-83 was furnished by the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Intercultural Studies, and the Universitv of California. Financial assistance for additional archival work was provided by the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Cyrus Kibingo, George Muriithi, and John Githuri Gichobi served as research assistants in Kirinyaga. Alice Hanna served as a research assistant at Syracuse University. David Brokensha, Barbara Grosh, and John Lonsdale provided comments on an earlier draft of this paper (‘Cotton in Kirinyaga: Does Having a Historical Consciousness in Development Planning Always Make a Difference?‘), which was presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology at Albuquerque, New Mexico, in March 1995. The author alone is responsible for the views expressed in this paper, as well as any errors.
PY - 1998
Y1 - 1998
N2 - Ignoring historical information is one of the major sources of error in development planning. Much can be learned about what works and what does not by examining unsuccessful interventions. This paper uses archival and ethnographic data to examine the very troubled history of cotton in Kirinyaga District, Kenya. It compares the crop's introduction and failure during the 1930s under British colonial rule with its later disappointing promotion by the independent Kenyan government in the 1960s and 1970s. The paper seeks to analyze how and why errors can arise, become embedded, and proliferate in agricultural development efforts. The paper also explores why planners sometimes have difficulties appreciating lessons from the past, especially those from colonial times. The paper calls for planners to redouble their efforts to learn from historical information.
AB - Ignoring historical information is one of the major sources of error in development planning. Much can be learned about what works and what does not by examining unsuccessful interventions. This paper uses archival and ethnographic data to examine the very troubled history of cotton in Kirinyaga District, Kenya. It compares the crop's introduction and failure during the 1930s under British colonial rule with its later disappointing promotion by the independent Kenyan government in the 1960s and 1970s. The paper seeks to analyze how and why errors can arise, become embedded, and proliferate in agricultural development efforts. The paper also explores why planners sometimes have difficulties appreciating lessons from the past, especially those from colonial times. The paper calls for planners to redouble their efforts to learn from historical information.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0305-750X(98)00076-X
DO - 10.1016/S0305-750X(98)00076-X
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33645400366
SN - 0305-750X
VL - 26
SP - 1719
EP - 1731
JO - World Development
JF - World Development
IS - 9
ER -