Some Observations on Farming Economics in the Nakuru District

Abstract

The remarks which follow are based on a tour recently undertaken in the Njoro Rongai Solai Subuki a area. The area consists of a cross-section of the Rift Valley from the neighbourhood of Njoro at an altitude of 7,100 ft. through the Rongai and Solai areas, falling to 5,500 ft. in the Solai Valley, and rising again to Subukia on the eastern slopes of the Rift Valley. The coffee areas in the Solai Valley and in Subukia were not included in the survey. Most of the farm records referred to in the following account relate to the open flattish country on the old lake deposits of Njoro, Rongai and the area between Menengai crater and the Thomson's Falls escarpment. They come within the zone designated Rongai—Solai in the Agricultural Census and Crop Reports. Difficulties of presentation of data The presentation of data in tabular form presents considerable difficulty under Kenya conditions. The most useful basis for tabulation, when the object is to make useful comparisons, is the factor of production round which the farm economy is organized. This is the factor which imposes the most important limit to the scale or the methods of operation. In closely settled countries the farmer's approach to his economic problems is made from the starting point that his land is a fixed quantity, at any rate for the time being, and the question is how much labour and how much capital shall be associated with it. In England the.