Mr. Stonehonseasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what progress is being made in the land consolidation schemes in the African areas of Kenya; and what is the minimum land holding available for each family.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydLand consolidation has made most progress in the Central Province. Fragments totalling 1,016,803 acres of land have been "gathered"—231,207 acres in Kiambu; 379,198 acres in Fort Hall; 204,647 acres in Nyeri; and 201,751 acres in Embu. 689,956 acres have been demarcated in the Central Province—238,412 acres in Kiambu: 124,607 acres in Fort Hall; 201,386 acres in Nyeri and 125,551 acres in Embu. The figures given above for demarcation include village areas. No internal demarcation has taken place in villages in Fort Hall and Embu, but 111 villages have been so demarcated in Kiambu and 82 in Nyeri. (No figures are available for Meru District, Central Province.)
The Rift Valley Province generally is undergoing conversion from a pastoral 130W to an arable economy. There has been little fragmentation and land consolidation is confined chiefly to the enclosure of common pasture land. 285,400 acres have been demarcated—185,400 acres in Nandi and 100,000 acres in Elgeyo Marakwet. No reliable figures are available for Nyanza Province.
There is no minimum land holding in Kenya comparable with the minimum holdings in, for example, Southern Rhodesia. In Kenya, under the land consolidation scheme an individual receives a consolidated holding equivalent to his existing rights in land under native law and custom, less a standard percentage reduction in area for public needs. If an individual's total land rights are too small for a farm, he generally receives an allotment near a village or possibly a plot within a village.