Agricultural pricing policy in Kenya

Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction in Kenya

“…In the 1960s and 1970s, the small-farm sector did particularly well, although its rapid growth was mainly associated with cash-crop production in the context of reasonably buoyant world markets, and food-crop farming did not fare so well (Francis, 2000). 8 Crop marketing boards, either carried over from the colonial period or created post-independence, initially seemed to have been effective, and were even held up as exemplary success stories (Lamb and Muller, 1982;Jabara, 1985). Enviable contrasts were made with Tanzania to show that private sector agricultural development in Kenya was superior to the socialist path followed in Tanzania (Johnston, 1989;Lofchie, 1989).…”

Big Food without big diets? Food regimes and Kenyan diets

“…For instance, Unilever acquired a 50% share of East Africa Industries in 1953, and the colonial government agreed to protect it from competition providing it made vegetable oil available at 'favourable' prices (in Swainson, 1980, p. 144). When East Africa Industries faced difficulty sourcing cotton seed from Uganda, it switched to the cheaper palm, sourcing supplies from its plantations in Zaire and Malaysia (Dinham & Hines, 1984;Jabara, 1985).…”

“…Throughout the 1970s, the availability of sugar cane rose in rough correspondence to increased producer prices (Jabara, 1985). The state also supported vegetable oil production.…”

Stabilization and Structural Adjustment of the Kenyan Economy, 1975–85: An Assessment of Performance

“…The relatively crude indices of real prices in Table 2 show that cereal producers enjoyed a 7 1 per cent and export crop producers a 74 per cent increase in real prices between 1979 and 1985. A more carefully constructed index (Jabara, 1985) bears out the picture of Kenya as an economy in which agricultural producer prices tend to increase at a faster rate than input prices, though of course with fluctuations. Indeed Jabara (who worked for two years as an adviser in the Ministry of Agriculture) concludes (p. 624), along similar lines to Mosley (1986b), that 'Kenya has used agricultural pricing policy to create incentives for increased agricultural production and to meet its development goals of promoting smallholder production.…”

“…The apparently large fall in 1985 disguises a recovery in crop sales and a sharp reduction in livestock sales from the unprecedented drought induced levels of 1984. The increase in marketed production demonstrates the remarkable price responsiveness of Kenyan farmers, as does the reduction in their output of products, such as milk and beef, for which price trends have been unfavourable (Jabara, 1985). In general, also, there has been a fortunate tendency for fluctuations in export crops and cereal crops to cancel each other out.…”