^{page 123 note 1} The Canada Council and the International Studies Program of the University of Toronto provided generous financial assistance for the author's research in Kenya, which was undertaken with the support of the Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi.

^{page 123 note 2} Kitching, Gavin N., ‘The Concept of Class and the Study of Africa’, in The African Review (Dar es Salaam), II, 3, 1972, pp. 327–50,Google Scholar and Cliffe, Lionel, ‘Rural Class Formation in East Africa’, in The Journal of Peasant Studies (London), IV, 2, 01 1977, pp. 195–224.Google Scholar

^{page 123 note 3} In carrying out my research in Kenya it became essential to identify the social structure of the agricultural community that grew tea. Cf. my Ph.D. dissertation, ‘The Politics and Administration of Agricultural Development in Kenya: the Kenya Tea Development Authority’, University of Toronto, 1975.

^{page 125 note 1} Tea was originally introduced on a pilot project basis under the direction of the Ministry of Agriculture during the 1950s. The Government of Kenya established a Working Party in 1959 to examine the initial experiment, and to make recommendations for the future of tea as an African cash crop. See Report of the Working Party set up to Consider the Establishment of an Authority to Promote the Development of Cash Crops for Smallholders within the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (Nairobi, 1959).

The favourable recommendations of this Report and a follow-up study in 1960 – see Report of the Working Party set up to Consider the Financial Implications of the Proposed Smallholder Development Authority for Tea Growing on Smallholdings within the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (Nairobi, 1960) – led to the creation in April 1961 of the Special Crops Development Authority, although it was soon clear that tea was its central and sole concern.

In 1964, the Kenya Tea Development Authority superceded the S.C.D.A., and in this article the two are treated as one organisation only. Utilising an integrated approach to agricultural development – that is, the provision of a wide range of services for farmers within one institutional framework – the Authority has staked a leading position within the world tea industry.

^{page 126 note 1} Cf. Kenya Tea Development Authority, ‘Vegetative Propagation Policy’, Board Paper No. 127, Nairobi, 23 11 1964.Google Scholar The use of cuttings reduces the cost of raising plants from seeds in large nurseries, while they mature more quickly and produce a higher yield. It might be noted that one acre of tea contains 3,500 plants in the districts east of the Rift Valley, and 3,000 in the west.

^{page 126 note 2} The rather tortuous justification for the new levy can be found in Kenya Tea Development Authority, ‘Development Charge’, Board Paper No. 40, Nairobi, 29 09 1970.Google Scholar

^{page 127 note 1} Special Crops Development Authority, ‘1963/64 Planting Programme’, Board Paper No. 101 (Amended), 1963, p. 3.

^{page 128 note 1} Minute 5 of the Meeting of the Kisii District Tea Committee held on 6 January 1970, ‘Illegal Transfers of Tea’.

^{page 128 note 2} This alliance is analysed fully in my ‘Farmers, Stratification and Tea Development in Kenya’, in The African Review, VII, 1, 1977.

^{page 129 note 1} Special Crops Development Authority, ‘Private Purchase of Stumps – Nandi’, Board Paper No. 154, Nairobi, 6 12 1963, p. 1.Google Scholar

^{page 129 note 2} Special Crops Development Authority, ‘Private Stump Purchases’, Board Paper No. 7, Nairobi, 3 01 1964, p. 1.Google Scholar

^{page 129 note 3} Ibid. p. 2.

^{page 129 note 4} Minute 223 of the Meeting of the Board of the Kenya Tea Development Authority held on 23 August 1964, ‘Applications for Tea Licences from Smallholders’.

^{page 130 note 1} Kenya Tea Development Authority, ‘Grower Financed Planting’, Board Paper No. 71, Nairobi, 14 10 1965, p. 1.Google Scholar

^{page 130 note 2} Brown, L. H., ‘A Report on the Tea Growing Potential of Kenya’, Nairobi, 12 1965, p. 55.Google Scholar

^{page 130 note 3} Kenya Tea Development Authority, Raynor, W. B. G., ‘Growers' Financed Planting’, Board Paper No. 15, Nairobi, 01 1966.Google Scholar

^{page 130 note 4} See ‘The Politics and Administration of Agricultural Development in Kenya’ for an analysis of the Murang'a, Kisii, and Meru Districts.

^{page 131 note 1} Private interviews, Murang'a District, December 1970 and January 1971.

^{page 131 note 2} Minute 56 of the Meeting of the Fort Hall District Tea Committee held on 2 December 1966, ‘Growers’ Financed Programme'.

^{page 131 note 3} The following section is drawn from a wider series of interviews with the field staff of the Kenya Tea Development Authority, farmers, chiefs, and major participants. These were held in Murang'a District in December 1970 and January 1971, with several additional interviews in Nairobi during February to April 1971.

^{page 131 note 4} The need for this type of assistance declined after 1970 with the more widespread use of cuttings, and the introduction of clonal or mother bushes into the Division, which meant that cuttings could be transferred directly between two individuals. The farmers from the local area could acquire planting material at no cost, while ‘strangers’ would be charged approximately to shs. for 1,200 cuttings. Thus, an alternative and more attractive opportunity had appeared for those farmers who wanted only a small number of plants, instead of the full acre required by the Kenya Tea Development Authority.