Fase de modelado

successes and failures of my fieldwork

I consider my fieldwork to have been a great success, although I did encounter a few frustrating moments. The success of my fieldwork began even before I set out to go to the field. Organising my research design adequately and having prepared my interview questions early was vital in undertaking this research. In addition, as I got to the field my previous work experience as a research and advocacy officer that often dealt with rural people in sourcing for information was an added advantage to me, while researching this community. By hiring a local research assistant who was known as a good man in the village my interaction with the local people was easy despite being a foreigner in the district. His ability to talk the local language and the mastery of the local people’s culture was vital in interacting with the participants who are deeply rooted in their culture

62 with regards to talking to foreigners.

Furthermore my research assistant and I developed a bond of friendship and more often saw each other as equals and not as employer and employee. He was willing to carry out his duties as I advised him in the beginning on methods and ethics considerations, without altering questions or responses from participants who spoke in the local language that I could not understand.

However, as I mentioned previously, interviewing women in the presence of men was not possible, this gave me a challenge during my fieldwork but also enabled me to learn that sometimes it is good to have a female research assistant in such cases. Therefore for any further research undertakings I will carry out, I will endevour to recruit female research assistants. Apart from this, other minor problems like being looked down upon by ministry employees and sometimes being made to wait for long hours without being attended to were also experienced. Despite this however, I consider this fieldwork experience to have been exciting and successful.

4.10

Summary

This chapter has examined the methodology involved in this research study. It particularly explored the methods used in the gathering of information from research participants, in regards to Jatropha and its impact on rural livelihoods. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework was used as a tool to guide this study. The use of this theoretical framework was chosen because of its ability to capture the entirety of livelihood aspects that are experienced in rural areas. The methods described in this chapter were largely qualitative, although some data was later quantified, for the purposes of clarifying specific aspects of livelihoods which can be quantified, for example, financial assets and physical assets. Other aspects considered and examined in this chapter included: ethical issues; research boundaries; research participants; research sites; data collection; and data analysis. The following chapter presents the results from the field information gathered in the Meru North district on the impact of Jatropha growing on small-scale farmer’s livelihoods and food production.

63

Chapter 5

The impact of Jatropha farming on small-

scale rural farmers’ livelihoods in Meru

North district

5.1

Introduction

This chapter presents the findings revealed from the research data gathered in Nchiiri and Kagaene villages. These two villages are situated in the Meru North district and they form the main research site for this study. The chapter comprehensively explores the first research question: what is the impact of Jatropha growing on the five assets of sustainable livelihoods and food production of small-scale rural farmers’ livelihoods. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework forms the basis of the analysis of the farmers’ livelihoods.

The results presented in this chapter are, therefore, based on the household interviews, and semi-structured interviews and observations made during the field study within the district. The primary analysis of the farmers’ livelihoods is based on the Assets Pentagon of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework and the aspects focussed upon include financial capital, human capital, social capital, natural capital and physical capital, as shown in the Asset Pentagon in Figure 3 below.

64 Figure 3 The Livelihoods Assets Pentagon

Source: Adapted from (Rakodi and Lloyd-jones 2002)

While the physical capital aspect forms one of the key components in the capital/assets pentagon, this study has divided physical capital into two distinct parts: firstly, individually owned physical capital, which is discussed within this chapter as part of the assets of small- scale rural farmers’ livelihoods; and secondly, physical capital being the assets owned by the state and/or the wider community, which are discussed in the following chapter as part of the wider rural community’s assets. The decision to split this component into two parts was taken because authors such as Rakodi & Lloyd-Jones (2002), have stated that physical capital which includes public or state owned infrastructure, such as roads, hospitals and schools, are public investments that are meant to benefit the community and therefore they are collective resources rather than individual ones.

Financial capital

Human capital Social capital

65 In this chapter also, the study presents the findings of the impact of Jatropha on food production in the Meru North district. Food production is an important aspect of small-scale rural farmers’ livelihoods and it is significantly impacted upon by the growing of non-food cash crops such as Jatropha. Therefore, the issue of food is also discussed within this chapter.

The first asset analysed is the financial capital of the farmers. Financial resources are deemed essential, since rural livelihoods are constructed based on them and accessibility to these resources may subsequently result in improved livelihoods. Therefore, in order to identify how Jatropha has impacted on these farmers finances, the study has assessed the farmers’ income changes and what they have acquired (in terms of assets) from the Jatropha trade.

The second asset analysed was the impact of Jatropha on individually owned physical capital. Under this section, the study analyses type of assets are held by farmers who grow Jatropha, in comparison with those assets owned by farmers who do not grow Jatropha.

Thirdly, the study examines the human capital aspect and here the main interest is to determine how Jatropha has impacted on these rural farmers and members of their household, in relation to acquiring skills, education and better health. In addition, labour, which is also an important aspect of human capital, is also analysed. The study examines how the growing of Jatropha has impacted on the available labour within these households.

Fourthly, the study explores aspects of social capital amongst the small-scale farmers who grow Jatropha and also the general community. The fifth aspect to be analysed is the natural capital on how Jatropha has enabled these farmers to acquire natural assets (for example land). However, other aspects under natural capital, such as the quality of air and water are not dealt with in this study. Lastly, as mentioned previously it is of great importance to discuss issues related to food in this chapter, since this is a very important aspect of rural livelihoods.