Sustainable development: Indigenous forms of food processing technologies: A Kenyan case study

This study examines the central role played by women in food processing practices, but does not limit itself to one gender; rather, it investigates the various roles played by family members in the processing activities. By making indigenous food processing practices a focal point, this investigation offers insights into perspectives on social structures, the impact of both modern and indigenous technologies on women and the relationship between environment and gender relations. The thesis advanced in this study is that indigenous food processing practices on-going activities that have not remained static, but have evolved with time. The study further examines how such variables as water, firewood, time and socio-economic and environmental factors have influenced processing patterns with particular reference to changes gender roles.;To carry out the investigation, the researcher conducted participant and non-participant observation, distributed 200 questionnaires, conducted unstructured interviews among 77 women and carried out both life histories and in-depth interviews with 14 women.;The study utilises a feminist perspective as a framework for understanding issues about development in an African context. The study focus on how local initiatives, practices, strategies and knowledge intersect with national processes of development. The researcher examines local/traditional knowledge about food processing and how such knowledge intersects with modern technological knowledge and the process of social development in the case of Kenya.;The findings of the study show that women cope with meagre resources; increased hours of food processing; decreasing family labour, incomes, natural resources and participation in decision making; and, limited access to modern processing technologies. The study posits that women have had to return to their indigenous knowledge for survival strategies in their shrinking economy.