Bamboo Production as an Alternative Crop and Livelihood Strategy for Tobacco Smallholder Farmers in South Nyanza, Kenya:

Abstract

In Kenya, tobacco is currently grown for commercial purposes in three major regions, namely; South Nyanza (Migori, Kuria and Homa-Bay districts), Western (Bungoma, Bumula, Malakisi, Sirisia, Busia, Teso and Mount Elgon districts), and Eastern (Meru, Embu and Kirinyaga districts). While the South Nyanza region has been dominating (80% production) in tobacco leaf production since 1970s to 2010, recent statistics obtained through the support of this project indicate that the companies have extensively expanded their production to Eastern and Western regions while reducing their production in South Nyanza. The long-term vision of this project executed for the period 2006-2013 is to turn-around the dependence of local livelihoods from tobacco farming to cultivation of alternative crops in Kenya. Phase I (2006-2008) of this research project attempted to go into considerable depth in its objectives to provide information useful for local enforcement of Articles 17 and 18 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) through the Kenya Tobacco Control Act, 2007. The research efforts and results obtained from Phase I led to some emerging issues or information gaps that required scientific investigation in Phase II (December 2009 to June 2013). Specific research objectives of the study’s Phase II were: - 1. To establish and monitor bamboo propagation nurseries for seedling production and enterprise diversity in the South Nyanza Region. 2. To undertake a gendered assessment of relevant cooperative marketing systems in Kenya and identify best practices that should be replicated in the upcoming bamboo industry for former smallholder tobacco farmers. 3. To undertake a range of feasibility studies and provide effective business plans for smallholder tobacco farmers and related local enterprises interested in bamboo production and processing of five (5) prioritized marketable product-chains (i.e. bamboo seedlings, bamboo handcrafts, bamboo furniture, bamboo housing and bamboo toothpicks industry) in the country. 4. To develop and implement a communication strategy for the project in order to effectively disseminate the outputs of the project. 5. To study the household livelihood strategies used by tobacco and non-tobacco farmers in the other two tobacco farming clusters in Kenya and compare to the South Nyanza region results obtained in Phase I, in order to develop acceptable national policy briefs on alternative economically viable crops and livelihoods. 6. To build capacity of staff and farmers in tobacco control through alternative livelihoods. 7. To carry out environmental auditing of tobacco farming activities in South Nyanza Region for purposes of evaluating their compliance level and policy formulation. 2 8. To evaluate the project to determine its impact on livelihoods of smallholder tobacco farmers. This final project report for Phase II covers a summary of activities undertaken for the whole project period of 19th December 2009 to 18th June 2013. This report gives more details of the project evaluation activity undertake in May-June 2013 focused on objective 8 above to give an indication of the project impact on livelihoods of smallholder tobacco farmers. Development of policies and legislation both by National and relevant County Government on economically viable and environmentally sustainable alternative crops to tobacco through partnerships with key stakeholders in tobacco control in the country is proposed, as a starting point in influencing national programs on tobacco control. While the results outlined in this technical report form the basis for policy formulation and law enforcement efforts, detailed and policy-based research on the environmental and social issues is fundamental in future. The study recommends for support of a final phase of 3-4 years that will focus on strategic research areas with great policy impacts and technical support in policy development at National and County levels of Government.