The plan was geared to expanding native Kenyan's cash-crop production through improved markets and infrastructure, the distribution of appropriate inputs, and the gradual consolidation and enclosure of land holdings.
[2] When the Swynnerton Report was first published, its findings, in complement with the East Africa Royal Commission 1953–1955, were a reversal of previous colonial policies on native agricultural practices.
The 'progressive' farmers would thereby be able to obtain credit, which had been previously denied them, whilst the new title deeds would create security of tenure which would lead to investment and rural development.
Furthermore, it recommended that native African farmers be allowed to grow cash crops, be given a major increase in technical assistance, and have access to all marketing facilities, all of which were previously available and restricted to the white settler minority.
Although the two recommendations were accepted with some modifications to suit the European farmers, they set the stage for an impending land settlement programme intended to formalise greater African participation in agriculture, the mainstay of Kenya's economy.