Through examining the example of commercial small-scale horticultural farmers in Mt. Kenya region and Mwanza region, this empirical study aims to provide an explanation for why different perspectives on the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Global South exist. A mixed methods approach was used to show that ICT usage can lead to significant improvements, including access to simple and complex knowledge and the development of business linkages. However, the influence of ICT depends on the different ICT usage types and the capabilities of farmers to use them. This paper gives a differentiated view on factors influencing the effects of ICT on small-scale farming. It provides a typology of ICT that helps to explains some of the potential effects of ICT usage in the Global South. The results contribute to the current applied and conceptual debate on market access for smallholders and Information and Communication Technologies for Development.
The emerging role of private standards as new forms of regulation and co-ordination in international trade and production is discussed in various fields including economic geography. A prominent example is the impact of the European standard GlobalGAP (former EurepGap) in Kenyan export horticulture. While today this standard is a quasi mandatory precondition for entering the EU market, several studies came to conclude that its high requirements led to market exclusion of most Kenyan farmers. This paper analyses how far farmers have in fact been excluded or have found alternative ways to enter the chain. Based on our own surveys, we identify and analyse different informal possibilities that are frequently used to produce for EU markets without a GlobalGAP certificate. Here we argue that informal production flows can take place even in highly standardised sophisticated consumer markets and should therefore be integrated into analyses on global value chains.
Driven by the rapid adoption of Internet-based technologies amongst producers in the Global South, the question of how and whether global value chain arrangements are reconfigured remains open to debate. This article addresses the changing practices of export-oriented smallholders accompanying the transition from simple phone towards smartphone use. Our dynamic approach compares cross-sectional survey data from 2013 and 2017 to answer to what extent Kenyan smallholders have adopted the Internet, which digital practices in relation to agricultural value chains they use and how this affects the inter-firm coordination between smallholders and subsequent actors. Smartphones have gained broad importance for smallholders as they are used for digital practices in value chains. Contrary to the debated dark sides of Internet connectivity, we can however not confirm sweeping digital control or value appropriation by lead firms. So far, long-established, analogue practices widely persist in arrangements between smallholders and exporters. Nevertheless, smartphones are used to nurture multilateral knowledge networks of unprecedented reach and size and further allow for incipient experiments with marketing strategies on digital marketing platforms devoted to domestic markets. We argue that these practices resemble strategic niche seeking that has to be interpreted in relation to captive export arrangements. With qualitatively and quantitatively increasing options to access and share knowledge and to market commodities, the Internet can serve to navigate the multiplicity of chain alternatives (domestic production, informal export production). Such niches should be considered as creating leverage against the take it or leave it deal of captive export production.
Kenya’s tea industry depends predominantly on imported compound NPK fertilizers to replenish nutrients removed through plucking. These fertilizers cannot be easily manipulated for specific soils and tea clones. They also frequently become hazardous within tea-growing environments. In this respect, two fertilizer blends containing NPKS 25 : 5 : 5 : 4 + 9Ca + 2.62Mg and NPKS 23 : 5 : 5 : 4 + 10Ca + 3Mg with trace elements have been produced commercially in the country. However, the extent to which the blended fertilizers may contribute to optimal economic gains without degrading the environment has not been determined. This was the knowledge gap that this study seeks to address. The goal of this study was to evaluate the economic efficacy of fertilizer blends with the aim of identifying optimal levels of application which would maximize tea productivity with minimal negative impacts on the environment. The study hypothesized that blended fertilizers maximize productivity of tea clones with minimal environmental damage. The fertilizer blends were evaluated in two study sites, i.e., Timbilil Estate in Kericho and Kagochi farm in Nyeri. The sites were selected purposefully, one in the eastern and the other in the western tea-growing areas. The trial was laid out in randomized complete block design with two fertilizer blends and the standard NPK 26 : 5 : 5 as control. The treatments were applied at four fertilizer rates (0 (control), 75, 150, and 225 kg·N·ha−1·yr−1), replicated thrice. Leaf samples were collected and analyzed for nutrient uptake as well as associated yields and economic trends. The economic optimum nitrogen rate (EONR) was achieved at 75 kg·N·ha−1·yr−1 at Kagochi with all fertilizers, while at Timbilil, EONR was variable, between 75 and 225 kg·N·ha−1·yr−1 with fertilizer types. This study has shown that, based on the economic point of view, Blend “A” was the most efficient and consistent fertilizer in production and economic returns across the two sites.
Drought is a major threat to water sources in the world. It causes variation in volumes of water flow. Once compounded with other factors, water scarcity arises. However, perceptions of households on the impact of drought on water sources vary from region to region. Understanding the perceptions of households is critical in ensuring people cope with water shortages. Thus, this paper sought to examine household's perception on the impact of drought on water resources in Makindu Sub-County, Kenya. The study employed descriptive survey research design. A total of 370 households were sampled using simple random sampling. Purposive sampling was used to select the key
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