Books and Book Chapters

Livestock sector transformation in Kenya: Current state and projections for the future

The livestock sector plays a major role in the Kenyan food system, contributing about 12 percent of the country’s overall GDP and 40 percent of agricultural GDP, and employing about half of the agricultural labor force (Kenya Markets Trust 2019a). The livestock sector also contributes 22 percent of food system GDP. Projections from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicate that the country’s population will continue to grow, and may reach around 96 million by 2050, with nearly 50 percent residing in urban areas by then compared with 27 percent in 2019 (FAO 2019; MacMillan 2019). Demand for animal-source foods is expected to grow substantially with this population growth and as higher numbers of affluent and more urban consumers seek nutrient-rich foods and more diversified diets (FAO 2019). This change in demand could potentially drive exponential growth in the livestock sector, generating new business opportunities along various livestock value chains. Realizing such growth will require concerted investments to support increased productivity and enhanced natural resource management, including enhanced water availability and management, to ensure sustainable growth of the sector (ILRI 2019; Bosire et al. 2022).

A way forward: Policy-driven transformation

This book has adopted a food systems framework as a new way of conceptualizing and designing food policies and research. Looking beyond agriculture and value chains makes it possible not only to turn food systems into a driver of economic transformation but also to better include health, productivity, resilience, inclusivity, and sustainability as integral parts of system transformation. Such a fresh approach is urgently needed in light of limited development progress over the past years in Kenya and other countries. The share of manufacturing—traditionally a driver of economic transformation—in total output remains low; maize yields have been stagnating for the past 20 years; and poverty and food insecurity are on the rise again (Nafula et al. 2020; FAOSTAT 2022). In addition to structural challenges, growing challenges and vulnerabilities such as the threat of pandemics, commodity price crises, climate change, and conflicts, call for a new development and food policy paradigm (Breisinger et al. 2022; UNICEF 2022). At the same time, such a fresh approach can also help in harnessing the new opportunities that come with digitalization and with (policy) lessons from other countries that can be adapted to the Kenyan context.

Youth engagement in agriculture and food systems transformation in Kenya

Food systems incorporate many actors at different intersecting levels and spaces. Young people1 constitute one of the most significant groups of these actors and contribute significantly to food systems in a variety of ways, from agricultural production and processing to food-related retail services, through formal and informal employment, paid and unpaid labor, and self employment. In addition to engaging through work and livelihoods, young people are involved in research, conservation, and knowledge acquisition and transmission. They also participate in consumer pressure groups and social movements raising awareness on the need for food system transformation and demanding climate change action. Through all these contributions, young people support achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal targets such as those on food security, economic growth, poverty reduction, and environ mental sustainability (HLPE 2021; FAO and AUC 2022).

Climate insurance: Opportunities for improving agricultural risk management in Kenya

Climate change represents a major challenge to food systems. It is associated not only with rising average temperatures but also with less predictable weather and changes in humidity, with severe consequences for agricultural production, input markets, aggregation, processing, distribution, and consumption. Negative impacts on food production can raise consumer prices, potentially leading to social unrest and conflict; increased temperatures and changes in humidity require stronger cold chains and improved storage facilities to avoid postharvest damage (de Brauw and Pacillo 2022). This chapter highlights several innovations in climate insurance that were developed and tested in Kenya with the aim of improving smallholder farmers’ ability to manage the production risks associated with climate change.

Digital innovations and agricultural transformation in Africa: Lessons from Kenya

Digital innovation is a key feature in the global and national discourse on food systems transformation. Efforts to better integrate food systems—defined here as the constellation of actors and their activities originating from agriculture, livestock, forestry, or fisheries, as well as the broader economic, societal, and natural environments in which they operate, including the production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption, and disposal of food products (Dwivedi et al. 2017; FAO 2018; Njuki et al. 2021)—will depend partly on how digital technologies can be used to bolster engagement, coordination, and innovation among a wider and more inclusive set of actors, including marginalized and vulnerable groups (Benfica et al. 2021).

Agricultural productivity in Kenya: 2000-2020

Agriculture is key to economic growth and poverty reduction in Kenya as it plays a pivotal role in employment creation, food security, exports, and sustainable development. In 2019, it directly contributed 22.7 percent of GDP, accounted for 20.9 percent of total exports, and generated 43.3 percent of employment (Chapter 2). The sector is thus not only an important driver of Kenya’s economy but also the means of livelihood for many Kenyan people. Given the economic and social importance of agriculture in Kenya, policies have revolved around the main goal of increasing productivity and incomes, especially for smallholders, to enhance food security and equity, with an emphasis on production intensification, commercialization, and environmental sustainability (Alila and Atieno 2006). In this context, the declining perfor mance of the sector measured in terms of its growth has been a major concern for policymakers.

This file includes the introduction to Part Three.

An enabling environment for the national flour blending policy: A food systems analysis

A national flour blending policy is about to be implemented in Kenya. This requires maize flour (the country’s main staple) to be blended with at least 10 percent of either one or a composite of traditional crops, such as sorghum and millet.1 The blending ratio is expected to increase gradually, with the goal of ultimately reaching 30 percent. The policy envisages achieving several goals. The first is to improve the nutritional quality of maize flour: sorghum and millet (and other candidate blending crops) have micronutrient characteristics that are absent in maize. The second is to promote more climate-tolerant crops and technologies: sorghum and millet can be grown in less favorable arid and semiarid lands (ASALs), in the very conditions that many farmers face in Kenya. This is particularly important given that maize is more susceptible than other staple crops to climate change. The third is to reduce the country’s overreliance on imported maize and concerns about its food sovereignty.

This file includes the introduction to Part Six.

Toward sustainable transformation through postharvest management: Lessons from Kenya's mango value chain

Management of postharvest food loss and waste (FLW) is an important strategy in efforts to sustainably meet the food and nutrition needs of the world’s growing population. Sustainable food systems are critical to achieving food security and nutrition for all, now and in the future. Food systems cannot be sustainable when a large proportion of the food produced using limited resources is lost or wasted in the supply chain. At the global level, it is estimated that poor postharvest management means this is the case for 30 percent of the food produced for human consumption (FAO 2011, 2019).

The figure for Kenya is similar (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives 2018). The 2021 Food Waste Index Report (UNEP 2021) indicates that every Kenyan wastes about 100 kg of food every year, which adds up to 5.2 million metric tons1 per year, excluding food loss that happens upstream, from production to retail. In monetary terms, wasteful consumption accounts for slightly over US$500 million annually (Mbatia 2021). FLW exacerbates food insecurity and has negative impacts on the environment through waste of precious land, water, farm inputs, and energy used in producing food that is not consumed. In addition, postharvest losses, caused by poor storage conditions, reduce income to farmers and contribute to higher food prices.

Food systems transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the past and policy options for the future

The new Kenyan government faces a complex domestic and global environment, and it is widely expected to address key food and agricultural challenges with a new set of policies and programs. This policy brief presents key recommendations from a forthcoming book, Food Systems Transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the Past and Policy Options for the Future, which provides research-based “food for thought and action” to support the Kenyan government’s efforts to improve food security.

Mechanization of agricultural production in Kenya: Current state and future outlook

Agricultural mechanization is the use of machinery, equipment, and implements—rather than human or animal power—to carry out agricultural practices. When the use of mechanization is sufficiently high, it can help improve the overall efficiency of food systems, reduce the costs of producing outputs and providing services, enhance economies of scale, and raise labor productivity and incomes (FAO and AUC 2018; Diao, Takeshima, and Zhang 2020). While mechanized practices are traditionally thought of in terms of tilling, seed drilling, and spraying, in recent years mechanization has been considered to include broader applications along the food system, such as irrigation, postharvest cleaning of harvests, cold storage, value addition, and processing.

Gender and food systems in Kenya: A case study of the poultry value chain in eastern Kenya

Women are key stakeholders in sustainable and resilient food systems, given their roles as primary food producers and household caretakers (Visser and Wangu 2021). Understanding how gendered roles affect food security and women’s well-being is essential for pursuing sustainable development (Angel-Urdinola and Wodon 2010; Doss, Meinzen-Dick, and Quisumbing 2018; Meinzen-Dick et al. 2019). Their participation in agriculture is documented widely, but there is a need for more gendered data on the roles of men and women in different contexts and agricultural value chains, including livestock value chains (Micere Njuki et al. 2016; Richardson 2018; Doss and Rubin 2021; Njuki et al. 2021). This file also includes the introduction to Part Five.

Transforming food systems through risk-contingent credit in rural Africa: Development, experimentation, and evaluation

Throughout Africa, climate change is posing severe challenges to agricultural production and food security. Agricultural risks—particularly those associated with drought—are a major cause of low agricultural productivity in most African countries, including Kenya. According to the Government of Kenya, four consecutive years (2008–2011) of drought caused US$12.1 billion in losses, accounting for about 8 percent of GDP, including losses in assets and disruptions to the economy across sectors (Kenya, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries 2014). Currently, Kenya is in the middle of an acute drought following three consecutive poor rainy seasons. This has led to a drop in crop production nationally of about 70 percent, which has disproportionately exposed the communities of arid and semi-arid lands to hunger and malnutrition.

Assessing the resilience of Kenya's food system: A production approach

A food system includes all elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructures, institutions, etc.) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution, preparation, and consumption of food, and the outputs of these activities, including socioeconomic and environmental outcomes (HLPE 2017). Thus, a food system links society and nature (Blesh and Wittman 2015). Resilience is “the ability of people, households, communities, countries and systems to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth” (USAID 2018). Applied to food systems, resilience is defined by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) as the ability to withstand major shocks and stressors emanating from climate/weather, conflict, disease, external economic shocks, and other sources, which, if not prevented or mitigated, would delay, or limit economic progress, transformation, prosperity, and self-reliance (AGRA 2021). In this sense, resilience of a food system may be considered a system property that plays a critical role in its sustainability (Jacobi et al. 2018), thus ensuring sustained food security. This chapter adopts this definition with the objective of assessing the resilience of Kenya’s food system and its components using systemwide metrics. Specifically, we use a production approach based on input–output linkages.

This file also includes the introduction to Part Four.

Introduction [in Food systems transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the past and policy options for the future]

The whole world has experienced a series of global and local crises since 2019, and Kenya has been no exception. Before the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, poverty and food poverty rates in the country had been declining steadily, falling from 52.3 percent to 36.1 percent and from 38.3 percent to 26.7 percent, respectively, between 1997 and 2016 (KNBS 2007, 2018). Income inequality also declined in the period from 1994 to 2015/16 (KNBS 2020). Estimates suggest that, since then, progress in poverty reduction has reversed, as a result of COVID-19 (Nafula et al. 2020), and that the impacts of the Ukraine and global crises have further increased poverty levels and the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet (Breisinger et al. 2022). In addition, ongoing droughts in the arid and semiarid areas of Kenya meant that an estimated 3.5 million people were in need of assistance in May 2022 (UNICEF 2022).

Food safety in Kenya: Status, challenges, and proposed solutions

Foodborne disease—that is, disease caused by consuming foods contaminated with biological or chemical hazards—is an important and often underrecognized public health concern in low- and middle-income countries around the world, including Kenya. While comprehensive national statistics on the foodborne disease burden are not available, the best available evidence from the region indicates that diseases transmitted via contaminated food have a greater impact on public health in Africa than either tuberculosis or diabetes (Havelaar et al. 2015; GBDCN 2016). Beyond its contribution to illness and death, foodborne disease also plays a role in child stunting, which remains a persistent problem in Kenya, affecting 16 percent of children (KNBS and ICF 2023). One study based on 20 years of data from 5 countries attributed 25 percent of stunting to repeated diarrheal episodes (Checkley et al. 2008), many of which can be traced to microbial contamination of food.

Kenya's agrifood system: Overview and drivers of transformation

The 2010s were a decade of strong economic development in Kenya. Gross domestic product (GDP)—an indicator of the economy’s size—expanded by an average of 5 percent per year (KNBS 2022). This exceeded population growth and helped raise household incomes, leading to a decline in poverty rates and, more importantly, in the number of poor people, for the first time in at least three decades (World Bank 2022). Agriculture played an important role in this. The sector grew alongside the rest of the economy, despite facing many challenges, including climate variability (Ochieng et al. 2020), weak rural infrastructure (Benin and Odjo 2018), shrinking farm sizes (Jayne et al. 2016), and inaccessibility of farm inputs combined with poor agronomic management (Worku et al. 2020). Agriculture, as part of the broader food system, also contributed to growth in downstream or off-farm sectors and helped cushion the economic damage resulting from COVID-19 in 2020 (Pauw, Smart, and Thurlow 2021).

This file includes the introduction to Part One.

Intensification of the maize-based farming: What happened to the maize green revolution?

Maize is the major food crop in eastern and southern Africa, including Kenya. Maize-based farming systems make up the largest proportion of agricultural land, and maize is central to the food system, in both rural and urban areas. Because of its importance, maize has received wide attention from the government, including in policy and research. As a result, Kenya has been at the forefront of the “maize green revolution” in Africa (Hassan and Karanja 1997; Hassan, Njoroge et al. 1998c). It was one of the first countries in Africa (with South Africa and Zimbabwe) to develop its own maize hybrids and combine them with fertilizer in demonstration trials, demonstrations, and dis semination (Hassan and Karanja 1997). In both South Africa and Zimbabwe, the settler communities continued to dominate commercial maize production (Eicher 1995), but in Kenya, indigenous African farmers took over most of the maize production right after independence.

Fresh produce value chains in Kenya: Challenges and prospects for enhanced market access and inclusion of smallholders

Contract farming is one potential mechanism that smallholder farmers in developing countries can use to participate in and benefit from domestic and global value chains (Okello and Swinton 2007; Barrett et al. 2012; Minot and Sawyer 2016; Ruben 2017; Ton et al. 2017). Linking smallholder farmers more directly with national and global consumers should increase both the demand and producer prices for their fresh produce. Increased access to and participation in such value chains increases farm income earned by smallholders. Improvements in inclusion and efficiency of value chains are vital to enhance the effectiveness of contracting models, and to enhance the market access and integration of smallholders. Inclusion is important because large buyers, including processors, modern retailers, and exporters, are often hesitant to engage with small and marginal farmers and may prefer working through brokers, which reduces benefits to farmers. Also, market integration is becoming increasingly important for smallholders in order to avoid marginalization of the less organized sector in the more organized, growing global fresh produce market (Ruben 2017; Ton et al. 2017).

Agricultural inputs in Kenya: Demand, supply, and the policy environment

Agricultural inputs, including fertilizers, seeds, breeding stock, crop protection chemicals, machinery, irrigation, and knowledge, are key to innovation and productivity improvement, and are the backbone of any agricultural revolution. They are an integral part of the food supply chain, which comprises the production and distribution of food, and as such a key component of the food system (HLPE 2017). The food supply chain involves various actors at different stages of the chain but this chapter focuses only on agricultural inputs, including both farm inputs and agricultural advisory services.

Rising commodities prices driven by the Russia-Ukraine crisis threaten to undermine Kenya’s economy, increase poverty

Much of the early attention to the Russia-Ukraine conflict’s food security impacts has been concentrated on countries highly dependent on wheat imports from the Black Sea region. Given the important role that wheat products play in the diets of people in Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon, and other countries, the interruption in Black Sea wheat trade and high prices have raised serious concerns about rising levels of food insecurity, poverty, and instability around the world. But many countries are affected by price increases across a range of commodities (some predating the war), including in fertilizers, edible oils, and maize, as well as oil, natural gas, and other energy products. How are these sharp international price increases impacting countries and people, and how can countries respond? Our recent modeling study focusing on Kenya suggests higher prices, particularly for fertilizer, will reduce GDP growth and increase poverty rates in the country, putting an estimated 1.4 million additional people below the poverty line.

Kenyan diets: Quality, affordability, and preferences

Dysfunctions in food systems in developing countries prevent many people from consuming a healthy diet (FAO et al. 2021), and Kenya is no exception. Globally, poor-quality diets are the leading cause of all forms of malnutrition (Afshin et al. 2019; Willet et al. 2019). In Kenya in 2020, an estimated 19 percent of children under five years of age were stunted (UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank 2021); in 2014, 33 percent of women aged 15–49 years were overweight or obese (KNBS et al. 2015), while recent regional trends in adults’ body mass index suggest a rapid increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity (Abarca-Gomez et al. 2017). The number of deaths resulting from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as coronary disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer, is projected to surpass malaria and tuberculosis by 2030 (Mkuu et al. 2021). Malnutrition and NCDs can have lifelong health consequences and high social and economic costs for individuals and societies alike, including from impaired human capital formation, reduced labor productivity, and high healthcare costs (Popkin et al. 2006; Shekar, Heaver, and Lee 2006; Victora et al. 2008; Black et al. 2013).

This file also includes an introduction to Part Two.

The dynamics of Africa’s fruit and vegetable processing sectors

The production of fruits and vegetables (F&V) in Africa has increased 3.3 percent annually during the last 20 years, but only 0.7 percent in per capita terms (FAOSTAT 2022; Figure 3.1). Africa has the lowest per capita production and consumption of F&V in the world, although South Africa, Morocco, and Egypt are large producers and exporters.

Selected country experiences during the pandemic: Policy responses and CGIAR support

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, CGIAR pivoted its research planning to better support countries as they responded to the crisis. Despite the unprecedented, highly disruptive nature of the pandemic, CGIAR’s collaborative country work has enhanced engagement across the agrifood sector, leveraged existing capacities, and improved awareness of vulnerabilities within value chains. The insights gained from this experience may ultimately prove useful in addressing other longstanding challenges as well. In this chapter, we recount selected country experiences during the pandemic and the response of the international agricultural research system to support these countries. In the section on country experiences, we draw from IFPRI’s COVID-19 Policy Response Portal (CPR) to focus on lockdown policies in Bangladesh, Kenya, and Nigeria. We describe the steps taken by governments in these countries to address challenges in the agrifood sector and provide social protection to the vulnerable.

Adoption and impacts of small-scale irrigation in Kenya’s maize-based farm households

An evolving paradigm for Africa and synthesis of the lessons from Asia

Africa has experienced a paradigm shift in mechanization in the past three decades. The “new paradigm” has also given rise to new challenges and policy issues. By synthesizing the recent experiences in African and Asian countries, this chapter draws lessons from Asia and Africa under this new African paradigm. In doing so, the chapter first lays out the guiding theoretical framework used in 1987 by Pingali, Bigot, and Binswanger (PBB), based on the literature on farming systems evolution and induced technological change. The chapter then describes the “new paradigm,” which builds on PBB but also integrates the additional dimension of market failures associated, on the supply side, with custom hiring services, which have become the most common mode of mechanization among smallholders in developing countries. Applying this expanded framework, the chapter then reviews the Asian experience first. It highlights how mechanization has grown in the continent, having largely avoided supply-side market failures, thanks to several factors: smaller machine sizes;1 increased opportunities for multifunctional uses of machines; more secure land tenures that allow integration with formal credit markets; and the supportive, rather than distortive, nature of government subsidy policies. The chapter then turns to the experiences in Africa south of the Sahara (“Africa” hereafter) and highlights the emerging patterns of spatial variations in demand that are still largely consistent with the PBB framework. However, the chapter also stresses that market failures associated with custom hiring services on the supply side are substantial due to features unique to Africa, including the dominant types of large tractors, in addition to higher financial constraints on tractor ownership resulting from lack of secure land tenures and weak penetration of formal credit markets, as well as other barriers due to limited multifunctionality, lack of migratory services due to insufficient infrastructure and coordination failures, and insufficient technologies complementary to mechanization. Based on country experiences in Asia and Africa, the chapter also highlights key government policies that have not always been successful, including import restrictions (or removal thereof), inefficient technology and skill promotion, and insufficient provision of public goods. Last, given the country experiences and the identified appropriate roles of governments, the chapter concludes by describing the key lessons that are important for Africa’s mechanization pathway forward, including (1) understanding the emerging nature of demand, (2) actively promoting private hiring services, (3) eliminating or reducing distortions, and (4) prioritizing the mechanization technologies appropriate for African contexts.

Evolution of agricultural mechanization in Kenya

Agricultural intensification is key to feed the rapidly increasing African population. Although the use of improved varieties has increased substantially over the last 20 years, the use of land- and labor-saving technologies, such as mechanization, has lagged behind. This study reviews existing literature and uses four household surveys conducted between 1992 and 2012 to analyze the evolution of agricultural mechanization in Kenya. The results show persistently low levels of mechanization in Kenya; in 2012, most farm households still used only hand tools. More than a quarter of farmers (28 percent) had a plow, but very few (2 percent) had a tractor. From 1992 to 2012, the percentage of farmers with oxen increased from 17 percent to 33 percent, but those with tractors decreased from 5 percent to 2 percent. Tractors were most important in the highlands, whereas animal traction was most important in the dry areas and moist mid-altitude zone. Adoption of tractors increased with income, acreage, and age. Adoption of animal traction increased with absentee husbands, age, sales of maize, livestock, family size, and access to extension; it decreased with land, fertilizer use, and income. Mechanization in Kenya is likely to continue to depend on animal traction, which is not linked to farm size, complements labor, helps to reduce fertilizer use, increases commercial maize production, and has room to grow—particularly in the highlands. Agricultural extension, development projects, and research should consider the opportunities in animal traction and provide training and research on appropriate technologies in areas with sufficient land area.

An evolving paradigm of agricultural mechanization development: How much can Africa learn from Asia?

Agricultural mechanization in Africa south of the Sahara — especially for small farms and businesses — requires a new paradigm to meet the needs of the continent’s evolving farming systems. Can Asia, with its recent success in adopting mechanization, offer a model for Africa? An Evolving Paradigm of Agricultural Mechanization Development analyzes the experiences of eight Asian and five African countries. The authors explore crucial government roles in boosting and supporting mechanization, from import policies to promotion policies to public good policies. Potential approaches presented to facilitating mechanization in Africa include prioritizing market-led hiring services, eliminating distortions, and developing appropriate technologies for the African context. The role of agricultural mechanization within overall agricultural and rural transformation strategies in Africa is also discussed. The book’s recommendations and insights should be useful to national policymakers and the development community, who can adapt this knowledge to local contexts and use it as a foundation for further research.

This record also includes the following synopsis:
Diao, Xinshen; Takeshima, Hiroyuki; and Zhang, Xiaobo, eds. 2020. An evolving paradigm of agricultural mechanization development: How much can Africa learn from Asia? Synopsis. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896293823

Evaluating options: Assessing the relative merits of resilience interventions

Factors influencing the effectiveness of productivity-enhancing interventions: an assessment of selected programs

The preceding chapter has shown that agricultural intensification paths differ markedly in different farming systems and are influenced significantly by population density; yield-enhancing technologies, such as fertilizer, may have been used more as instruments for expanding cultivated area, rather than for increasing yield; and further in-country analysis is needed to sharpen the policy implications of these findings. This chapter assesses selected productivity-enhancing interventions across Africa, with the aim of distilling lessons on key factors contributing to the effectiveness of such interventions. Intervention as used here stands for programs, projects, strategies, or other agricultural development initiatives, and effectiveness refers to the extent to which the objectives of the intervention were achieved, taking into account their relative importance (OECD 2010).

Resilience to climate-induced conflict in the Horn of Africa

The Shuffled Complex Evolution—Universal Algorithm (SCE‐UA) is an automatic calibration algorithm that has shown success in finding a globally optimum objective function with more efficiency than other methods. We incorporated the SCE‐UA into our novel modeling environment, utilizing an ontology‐based simulation (OntoSim‐Sugarcane) framework adapted to analyze groundwater table (WT) fluctuations and drainage practices on four farm basins in the Everglades Agricultural Area of south Florida.Utilizing two water years (WY96–97) of farm WT fluctuations observed at a portion (<16 ha) of each farm basin, two parameters—lateral hydraulic conductivities of soil profile and vertical hydraulic conductivity of underlying limestone—were automatically calibrated. Regardless of farms, the best parameter sets that minimize the objective function of daily root mean square error could be found after 1500 simulation runs. The quality of matching simulated to observed values of farm WT were further assessed by the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE). The NSE ranged from 0.38 to 0.75 (calibration period, WY96–97) and 0.10 to 0.76 (validation period, WY98–99) on all four farms. These results indicate that this coupling strengthens the capability of OntoSim‐Sugarcane to model hydrology by objectively finding the best parameter sets. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Kenya

East African agriculture and climate change: A comprehensive analysis

The second of three books in IFPRI's climate change in Africa series, East African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis examines the food security threats facing 10 of the countries that make up east and central Africa - Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda - and explores how climate change will increase the efforts needed to achieve sustainable food security throughout the region. East Africa's populations is expected to grow at least through mid-century. The region will also see income growth. Both will put increased pressure on the natural resources needed to produce food, and climate change makes the challenges greater. East Africa is already experiencing rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and increasing extreme events. Without attention to adaptation, the poor will suffer.Through the use of hundreds of scenario maps, models, figures, and detailed analysis, the editors and contributors of East African Agriculture and Climate Change present plausible future scenarios that combine economic and biophysical characteristics to explore the possible consequences for agriculture, food security, and resources management to 2050. They also offer recommendations to national governments and regional economic agencies already dealing with the vulnerabilities of climate change and deviations in environment. Decisionmakers and researchers will find East African Agriculture and Climate Change a vital tool for shaping policy and studying the various and likely consequences of climate change.

Strategies and priorities for African agriculture: Economywide perspectives from country studies

This book examines the potential of agriculture to contribute to national growth and poverty reduction. It also evaluates the financial costs of accelerating agricultural growth. The analysis is based on ten country case studies that apply similar economywide approaches to linking growth, poverty, and investment. The findings indicate that, in most African countries, improving agriculture’s performance is essential to achieving pro-poor growth. They also point to export agriculture having high growth potential and becoming a prominent part of agricultural strategies. The research shows that broad-based growth will be difficult to achieve without expanding staple-foodcrop production and livestock production, since only they have the scale and linkages to poor households needed to reduce national poverty within a reasonable period of time. Finally, the case studies confirm the need for greater investment in agriculture. However, the efficiency of agricultural investments will have to improve if development targets are to remain attainable.

Kenya

Kenya’s economy is diverse, with both agricultural and industrial potential. However, the economy has not performed especially well over the past two decades, and evidence suggests that poverty and inequality has not declined much. Therefore, it is imperative that Kenya’s government foster stronger growth and a process of income generation that benefits the broader population. As discussed in the next section, numerous studies emphasize the importance of rural development in Kenya, largely because a majority of the population, especially poor households, lives in rural areas, where they rely heavily on agricultural incomes. Urban households also depend on rural areas as a source of food and as a market for nonagricultural goods. However, Kenya’s ninth National Development Strategy has not taken a particularly optimistic view of agriculture’s potential contribution to economic growth—it targets an annual growth rate of around 4 percent per year, with agriculture growing at a little more than 3 percent (Kenya 2002).

Rural institutions and imperfect agricultural markets in Africa: Experiences from producer marketing groups in Kenya

The analysis and evidence presented here have shown that farmers selling to PMGs receive higher prices than otherwise, opening new opportunities for smallholder farmers to benefit from markets. Although the marketing channels in the study areas are characterized by long and complex chains and high transaction costs, which considerably lower the farmers' share of the consumer prices, PMGs improved market access for small producers by bulking, storage, grading, sorting, and selling the produce directly to buyers at the upper end of the value chain. The links to secondary and tertiary markets were enhanced through better coordination of production and marketing activities. There is no evidence that the PMGs benefited only the wealthier, resource-rich farmers. On the contrary, the incentive for joining collective marketing groups seems to be higher for those with smaller farmlands, but not necessarily for the poorest.

Are horticultural exports a replicable success story? Evidence from Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire

Scarecrows and commercial risks: GM-free private standards and their effects on biosafety decision-making in developing countries

Towards functional biosafety regulatory frameworks in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Malawi

An analysis of animal healthcare service delivery in Kenya

One important objective of agricultural polices and interventions in developing countries is to commercialize and intensify agricultural production. As argued in Chapter 5, to intensify their agricultural production, smallholder households may require access to a range of support services, including improved seeds, inorganic fertilizers, credit, technical advice, market information, and linkages to output markets. In this case study one of the critical inputs for animal production— animal healthcare services—is analyzed. The control of animal diseases and the promotion and protection of animal health through efficient and reliable animal healthcare services are essential components of any effective animal breeding and production program and constitute an essential prerequisite to livestock development. Despite remarkable technical advances in the diagnosis, prevention, and control of animal diseases, the condition of animal health throughout the developing world remains generally poor, causing substantial economic losses and hindering any improvement in livestock productivity.

What happens during the creation of private property? Subdividing group ranches in Kenya's Maasailand

This case study discusses the internal processes and decisions that characterized the transition from collectively held group ranches to individualized property systems among the Maasai pastoralists of the Kajiado district in Kenya. It examines who the main actors were during subdivision, their interactions (including their degree of latitude in crafting and changing rules), as well as the outcomes of these interactions.

Unlocking the market: Fertilizer and maize in Kenya

Breeding an “Amaizing” crop: Improved maize in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Biosafety at the crossroads: An analysis of South Africa’s marketing and trade policies for genetically modified products

Agricultural research, livelihoods, and poverty: Studies of economic and social impacts in six countries

The impact of agricultural research on food production and economic growth in developing countries is well established, but there is still considerable debate about the extent to which these productivity increases have been translated into reductions in poverty. This volume provides evidence from a range of case studies on the impact of different types of agricultural research and technologies on the livelihoods of poor people. The studies go beyond conventional analyses of the direct effects on poor producers, to include broader societal impacts on consumers, including the urban poor in India and China. The studies also look beyond economic measures of poverty to consider the distribution of gains by wealth or poverty status and by gender.

Strategies for Sustainable Land Management in the East African Highlands: Conclusions and Implications

The studies in this book sought to understand the factors affecting rural households’ choice of income strategies and land management practices and the implications of these decisions and of policy- and program-relevant factors for agricultural production, household welfare, and land degradation. We noted at the outset that the factors influencing these decisions and outcomes are many and complex and that their effects may be very context-dependent in a region as diverse as the East African highlands. The findings in the preceding chapters amply support this hypothesis.

Zero Tillage or Reduced Tillage: The Key to Intensification of the Crop?Livestock System in Ethiopia

Numerous methods are available for increasing crop and livestock production in the Ethiopian highlands. Both national and international research institutes have developed technologies that are technically appropriate for these conditions. Examples of such technologies are the broad-bed maker for vertisols and cow traction (Zerbini, Woldu, and Shapiro 1999) and use of a single ox to pull the plow (Ouwerkerk 1990). However, farmers’ adoption of these technologies has been very limited, and farming is still characterized in most areas by low input use and limited use of improved technologies. Fertilizer application has increased in recent years because improved crop production packages have been introduced through the Ethiopian extension service. Fertilizer has been easy to introduce because it does not require fundamental changes in the farming system. These packages have been accompanied by supply of credit. However, introducing these packages to farmers has not been without problems, particularly in dryland areas where crop failures are common. Farmers are often forced to sell animals to repay their debt. Despite these problems, it must be recognized that fertilizers do have an important role to play if farming in Ethiopia is to progress.

Land Management Options in Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda

In the recent past, the image of agricultural and environmental crises in Sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) has become increasingly common. Soil erosion and soil fertility loss are considered to be negatively affecting the productive capacity of the agricultural systems (Giller et al. 1997; Sanchez et al. 1997; Smaling, Nandwa, and Janssen 1997). These problems have been ascribed to many different causes: social (e.g., marginalization of the poor and women), political (e.g., structural adjustment programs), economic (e.g., poor availability and/or high prices of inputs, limited market opportunities), biological (e.g., increasing population and reducing land sizes), and physical (e.g., climatic change).

Community Natural Resource Management in the Highlands of Ethiopia

Common property resources1 are important sources of timber, fuelwood, and grazing land in developing countries. When community members have unrestricted access to the resource, or when use regulations are ineffective, these resources are exploited on a first-come, first-served basis. Each individual user of the resource will tend to continue to use the resource until her average revenue is equal to the marginal cost of using the resource (Gordon 1954). In the presence of externalities, social marginal cost exceeds private marginal cost, and common property resources can still be degraded if an individual equates her marginal cost with her marginal benefit of utilizing the resource. These conditions lead to overexploitation of the resource and the dissipation of the scarcity rent.

Agricultural Enterprise and Land Management in the Highlands of Kenya

This chapter focuses on the management of agricultural land by smallholder households in the highlands of Kenya. It draws mainly from several recent studies from the central highland areas near to the south and west of Mt. Kenya and the western highland areas to the north and west of Kisumu, which were led by the authors. The chapter also draws from a set of studies under the KAMPAP project.1 See the appendix for a description of the key papers used in this synthesis. The main purpose of this synthesis is to understand constraints and opportunities for improving agricultural productivity in a sustained manner. The comparison between the central and western highlands offers considerable insights because one area consists of relatively dynamic and productive agricultural systems (central), and the other is relatively stagnant and unproductive (western).

Village Stratification for Policy Analysis: Multiple Development Domains in the Ethiopian Highlands of Tigray

Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa suffer from problems related to poverty, natural resource degradation, and the complex interactions between these phenomena (Cleaver and Schreiber 1994). In the northern Ethiopian highlands of Tigray region, problems of poverty and degradation are extremely severe: population density is very high, rainfall is scarce and erratic, and soil fertility is low. Under such conditions, farmers need to rely on external inputs and soil conservation practices in order to stabilize or increase yields. Within the current land use pattern, a wide range of different options are available for intensification of production systems. The selection of appropriate pathways for intensification may be different for specific locations. Therefore, village stratification can be used to select technologies and practices that are applied under particular agro-ecological, socioeconomic, and institutional conditions.

Policies and Programs Affecting Land Management Practices, Input Use, and Productivity in the Highlands of Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Increasing agricultural productivity is an important challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Since the 1960s, agricultural production in SSA has failed to keep up with population growth. The situation is severe in Ethiopia, particularly in the highland areas, where agriculture is primarily rain fed (about 95 percent); soil loss rates average 21 to 42 tons per hectare per year on cultivated lands (Hurni 1988; Kebede 1996); many soils show large negative nutrient balances (Stoorvogel, Smaling, and Janssen 1993; Elias, Morse, and Belshaw 1998); cereal yields are less than 1 ton per hectare in many places; and up to 2 percent of total crop production is lost annually from soil erosion alone (Kappel 1996).

Strategies for sustainable land management in the East African Highlands

Land degradation is a severe problem in the densely populated highlands of East Africa and elsewhere on the African continent. Soil erosion resulting from cultivation on steeply sloping terrain, mining of soil fertility due to continuous cultivation with limited application of inorganic or organic sources of soil nutrients, and deforestation and overgrazing of rangelands are among the key factors causing low agricultural productivity, widespread poverty, and food insecurity in the region. Finding ways to achieve more sustainable and productive land management is an urgent need, requiring policy, institutional, and technological strategies that are well targeted to the heterogeneous landscapes and diverse bio-physical and socioeconomic contexts found in the East African highlands. This volume helps to address this information need. The book is based on papers originally presented at the conference “Policies for Sustainable Land Management in the East African Highlands,” held at the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Addis Ababa in April 2002. That conference was sponsored by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI); the World Agroforestry Centre (formerly ICRAF); the East and Central Africa Program for Agricultural Policy Analysis (ECAPAPA); the African Highlands Initiative (AHI); the Soil, Water and Nutrient Management Program (SWNM) of the CGIAR; the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA); and the Regional Land Management Unit (RELMA) of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The material focuses on land management issues in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda, which include most of the people and area of the East African highlands.

Policies for Livestock Development in the Ethiopian Highlands

Livestock have diverse functions for the livelihood of farmers in mixed croplivestock systems in the highlands of East Africa. Livestock provide food in the form of meat and milk, nonfood items such as draft power, manure, and transport services as inputs into food crop production, and fuel for cooking. Livestock are also a source of cash income through sale of the above items, animals, hides, and skins. Furthermore, they act as a store of wealth and determine social status within the community. Because of these important functions, livestock play an important role in improving food security and alleviating poverty. Because they are central to nutrient cycling, livestock are important to the efficiency, stability, and sustainability of farming systems in the East African highlands (Ehui et al. 1998). The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its partners and collaborators have shown that securing the current and future livestock assets of the poor is a major pathway to get the rural poor out of the poverty spiral (ILRI 2002).

Influences of Programs and Organizations on the Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Technologies in Uganda

Governments are devolving service and infrastructure provision, regulatory authority, and decisionmaking in many developing countries. Market reforms and structural adjustment policies devolve the provision of services and infrastructure to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and the private sector (Farrington and Bebbington 1993; Uphoff 1993; Pender and Scherr 2002). The transition from the provision of extension services, input supply, rural credit delivery, regulation, and other aspects of natural resource management from centralized governments to alternative institutions may have significant implications for the capacity of smallholders to sustainably manage their resources.

Key Issues for the Sustainable Development of Smallholder Agriculture in the East African Highlands

This book includes a series of studies of income strategies, land use, and agricultural dynamics and their impacts on welfare and natural resources in the highlands of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. There are several reasons for focusing on the highlands. First, the complex problems of severe poverty, low productivity, and poor natural resource management seem to be the rule rather than the exception. This is critical because the highlands support the majority of rural populations in the region. Second, within the highlands are some of the most densely populated areas in all of Africa. Thus, what happens in the highlands may provide pertinent insights for what is likely to happen as population density increases and agriculture intensifies in the rest of Africa in the future. Third, the highlands also contain a wide variety of agroclimatic conditions, from the semiarid Tigray landscape to the lush humid highlands of Mt. Kenya, and vastly different market opportunities. The varying population density, agricultural potential, and market access conditions are representative of the variation found elsewhere in Africa. And finally, within the highlands are not only many areas beset by problems of poverty and low productivity but some real successes where farmers invest in agriculture and improved resource management and generate significant profits. Therefore, it is possible to understand how different conditions tend to lead to different evolution or intensification processes as well as which factors have been most critical in enabling some communities and farmers to prosper.

Policies for Poverty Reduction, Sustainable Land Management, and Food Security: A Bioeconomic Model with Market Imperfections

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and its population of more than 70 million people lives mostly in the highlands. The food security of these people is threatened by land degradation and droughts that cause declining and highly variable land productivity. Changes in the global climate may also have caused an increase in the incidence of drought that has occurred recently in areas that were not affected by the earlier droughts. Along with a history of social conflict and unrest in the country, poor governance and misplaced government policies have contributed to the vicious spiral of poverty, land degradation, and food insecurity. There is a strong need for peace, better governance, and improved policies that can help break the Malthusian development path and put communities onto more sustainable development pathways where poverty is reduced and food security is improved. Especially, there is an urgent need for pro-poor alternative development strategies that address land degradation and food insecurity in less-favored areas where drought risk is higher and/or market access is poorer.

Strategies to Increase Agricultural Productivity and Reduce Land Degradation in Uganda: An Econometric Analysis

Land degradation and low agricultural productivity are severe problems in Uganda. Although Uganda’s soils were once considered to be among the most fertile in the tropics (Chenery 1960), problems of soil nutrient depletion, erosion, and other manifestations of land degradation appear to be increasing. The rate of soil nutrient depletion is among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa (Stoorvogel and Smaling 1990), and soil erosion is a serious problem, especially in highland areas (Bagoora 1988). Land degradation contributes to the low and in many cases declining agricultural productivity in Uganda. Farmers’ yields are typically less than one-third of potential yields found on research stations, and yields of most major crops have been stagnant or declining since the early 1990s (Deininger and Okidi 2001).

Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses

In this chapter we introduce the conceptual framework that underlies the case studies presented in this book and discuss hypotheses about the effects of key factors on community and household decisions concerning income strategies and land management. We also discuss the influence of such decisions on outcomes such as agricultural production, household income, and land degradation (or improvement). This chapter is adapted from Scherr et al. (1996); Pender, Place, and Ehui (1999); Pender, Scherr, and Durón (2001); and Nkonya et al. (2004). The conceptual framework considers the effects of dynamic driving forces of change, such as population growth and changes in access to technology, markets, infrastructure, and services, as well as of more slowly changing conditioning factors such as agricultural potential, local institutions, and culture. We also consider the influence of government policies, programs, and institutions, which may influence income strategies, land management, and outcomes in many ways at different levels by affecting the driving forces and conditioning factors at the local level, by directly promoting or inhibiting different income strategies and land management practices, or by directly affecting outcomes (e.g., through food aid). We argue that the impacts of many factors are likely to be context-dependent, emphasizing the importance of empirical research in specific contexts, though some unambiguous hypotheses are derived. In general, policy and program interventions are likely to involve tradeoffs among the objectives of increasing agricultural productivity, increasing household income, and reducing land degradation.

Development Pathways in Medium- to High-Potential Kenya: A Meso-Level Analysis of Agricultural Patterns and Determinants

The highlands of East Africa have been endowed with a combination of moderate temperatures, adequate rainfall (falling in two distinct seasons for much of the highlands), and productive soils that make the region one of the best suited for agricultural development in all of Africa. As a consequence, the area has a long history of human habitation and supports some of the highest rural population densities in Africa (Hoekstra and Corbett 1995; Pender, Place, and Ehui 1999).

The future of smallholder agriculture in Eastern Africa: the roles of states, markets, and civil society

This book is one of the principal outputs of the IFPRI Eastern Africa Food Policy Network. The Network, known then as the IFPRI 2020 Vision Network for Eastern Africa, was launched in 1998, in response to requests by several eastern African countries for assistance in generating policy-relevant information. Covering Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda, the Network engages in a range of activities in policy research, capacity strengthening, and outreach (policy communication), with a view to contributing to efforts to reduce poverty, improve food and nutrition security, increase agricultural productivity, and promote sustainable use of natural resources in the region. Beginning in 2000, the Network supported several research projects under its Competitive Grants Program. A total of 30 projects were supported across all 6 Network countries. This book summarizes the outputs of 11 of the best projects.

Efficiency and equity in public investment in agriculture: lessons from soil fertility research in Kenya

Successful community nutrition programming: lessons from Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda

...This report brings together the main findings of a series of assessments of successful community nutrition programming carried out in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda between 1999 and 2000. The overall aim of the assessments was to identify key lessons, or the main driving forces behind the successful processes and outcomes in these programs. Such elements of success fundamentally have to do with both what was done and how it was done....The major success factors identified in these country assessments and discussed in detail in this report have been placed in the following four categories, based on the chronological phase of the community nutrition program: Process leading to program development, including role of contextual factors; Program design and content; Program management and implementation; and Evolution, sustainability, and scaling up of the program. Following a historical review of experiences with community-based nutrition programming in the region and elsewhere, the report discusses the findings of the assessment and describes the key elements of success in each of the above categories."--- from Executive Summary and Introduction.

The politics of precaution: genetically modified crops in developing countries

Genetically modified (GM) food crops have inspired increasing controversy over the past decade. By the mid-1990s they were widely grown in the U.S., Canada, and Argentina, but precautionary regulations continue to limit their use elsewhere. The restrictive policies of Europe and Japan toward GM crops have been much discussed. Less attention has been paid to the policies affecting the adoption of GM crops in the developing world, where their potential impact on the availability and quality of food is even greater. In this book Robert L. Paarlberg looks at the policy choices regarding GM food made by four important developing countries: Kenya, Brazil, India, and China. Of these, so far only China has approved the planting of GM crops. Paarlberg identifies five policy areas in which governments of developing countries can either support or discourage GM crops: intellectual property rights, biosafety, trade, food safety, and public research and investment. He notes that highly cautious biosafety policies have so far been the key reason that Kenya, Brazil, and India have hesitated to plant GM crops. These cautious policies have been strongly reinforced by international market forces and international diplomatic and NGO pressures. China has been less cautious toward GM crops, in part because there is less opportunity in China for international organizations or independent critics of GM crops to challenge official policy.

Dynamic externalities and structural change in Kenya

Economic development and structural transformation are dynamic processes in which sectoral interactions are numerous and multidirectional. Recent growth literature has noted that many of these effects occur in the form of externalities not captured in a neoclassical accounting of intersectoral resource flows and price adjustments. This work has emphasized, for example, that increasing returns phenomena such as demand externalities (Murphy, Shleifer, and Vishny 1989a) and human capital spillovers (Romer 1986) can play an important role in leading the growth process. The assessment just presented by Bigsten and Collier in chapter 7 takes a primarily static view of agricultural linkages in Kenya. This chapter points out ways in which such a perspective may overlook important aspects of linkage effects and structural transformation in Kenya. The discussion draws heavily on the successful agricultural and rural development experience in Taiwan to illustrate the potential importance of intersectoral linkages and certain dynamic externalities.

Linkages from agricultural growth in Kenya

Kenya is an exciting case for those who suspect that agriculture has powerful linkages with the rest of the economy. Over the period 1965-87 Kenya's agricultural production consistently surpassed the average for Sub-Saharan Africa. The same was true of its manufacturing and services (see World Bank 1989, table 7.1). One possible explanation for this performance is that agricultural growth stimulated growth in the other sectors of the economy. Such a hypothesis is a priori plausible because Kenya's government policy, in contrast to that of other African governments, was not heavily biased against agriculture. Thus, it makes more sense to attribute the country's good agricultural performance to pro-agricultural policy than to attribute its good industrial performance to pro-industrial policy. It appears that Kenya's policy had an exogenous influence that tended to favor agriculture, and this partiality generated indirect benefits for the rest of the economy. Elsewhere in Africa, policy heavily favored industry and services, but any indirect benefits from these sectors to agriculture were evidently negligible. The situation in Kenya suggests that a pro-agriculture policy not only promotes agricultural growth but also helps industry and services achieve faster growth than they would if those sectors were favored.

Health and nutrition effects of commercialization of agriculture

One of the most contentious issues in the cash crop/food crop debate revolves around the impact of commercialization of agriculture on the health and nutritional status of women and children/ This chaper examines the effects of commercialization of agriculture on preschoolers' health nad nutritional status. The chapter also assesses the effects on women along the lines of the conceptual ramework described in chapter 2.

Effects of sugarcane production in southwestern Kenya on income and nutrition

In 1984, at the request of the Government of Kenya, IFPRI initiated a study to evaluate the income and nutritional effects of a shift from maize to sugarcane production. The government was concerned that in areas undergoing this transition to commercial agriculture, particularly to sugarcane production, a deterioration in household-level food security and preschooler nutritional status was occurring.

Agricultural commercialization, economic development, and nutrition

Why should there be a book about the commercialization of subsistence agriculture, economic development, and nutrition? There are two compelling reasons. First, concerns and suspicions about adverse effects on the poor of commercialization of subsistence agriculture persist and influence policy of developing countries and of donor agencies. Second, in rural areas of low-income countries, nutritional welfare is determined by many complex factors whose relationships to agricultural commercialization and economic development need to be traced in order to design optimal rural growth policies that benefit the poor. In view of the challenges of rapid urbanization and the chances of commercialization, the question is not if subsistence agriculture should be overcome, but how. Thus, the purpose of this book is to clarify concepts, add comprehensive factual information, and assist policy and program analysts in identifying potentials and risks of promoting commercialization of agriculture for poverty alleviation.

Contract farming and commercialization of agriculture in developing countries

The distributional benefits of commercialization of agriculture, access to commercialization opportunities, and sharing of commercialization risks are functions of institutional arrangements. Obviously, the indirect food security and nutritional effects are, thereby, partly a function of such institutional arrangements. This chapter explores the relevance to food security of one form of contractual relationship in agriculture: formal contracts between producers and buyers (generally processors or exporters), a production and marketing system known as contract farming. The chapter does not refer to the extensive literature on informal contractual relations, such as sharecropping, or on traditional systems of contract farming, such as the extensive "strange farmer" system in West Africa's groundnut sector. The chapter draws generalizations and conclusion from studies done by the author and by other researchers. The latter include two research networks initiated by the author. One network surveyed the experience with contract farming in several East and Southern African countries (Eastern Africa Economic Review 1989); the second examined the experience in Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines (Glover and Lim, forthcoming).

Commercialization of rice and nutrition: A case from West Kenya

The Kenyan government has actively encouraged cultivation of cash crops as part of its past and present development policies. Cash crop production of industrial and food crops has grown steadily, although the share of agricultural production that is marketed is still less than 50 percent (Kenya, Central Bureau of Statistics 1988). This chapter studies the cultivation of commercial rice at large irrigation schemes in Nyanza Province, western Kenya.

Agricultural processing enterprises: Development potentials and links to the smallholder

In countries where farming and fishing are major productive activities, processing enterprises can have a strategic developmental role. Infrastructural, institutional, and contractural issues arise around them. Whereas consumption and nutrition effects of agricultural commercialiazation linked to specific processing enterprises are traced in some of the detailed studies in Part V (for example, export vegetables, chapter 12; spices plantation, chapter 14; dairy, chapter 15; sugarcane factories, chapter 13 and 16), this chapter gives an overview of the broader experiences, potentials and problems of agricultural processing enterprises.

Introduction and overview [in Agricultural commercialization, economic development, and nutrition]

Why should there be a book about the commercialization of subsistence agriculture, economic development, and nutrition? There are two compelling resasons. First, concerns and suspicions about adverse effects on the poor of commercialization of subsistence agriculture persist and influence policy of developing countries and of donor agencies. Second, in rural areas of low-income countries, nutritional welfare is determined by many complex factors whose relationships to agricultural commercialization and economic development need to be traced in order to design optimal rural growth policies that benefit the poor.

Production, employment, and income effects of commercialization of agriculture

The three chapters in Part III report synthesis is findings from the microlevel IFPRI research in The Gambia, Guatemala, Kenya, the Philippines, and Rwanda, as well as from the other case studies presented in Part V. Any attempt to synthesize and generalize on the basis of the detailed case studies runs the risk of excessively extrapolating from special circumstances and of losing insights gained from these case studies, whose strengths are the detailed assessments of the commercialization-production-income-consumption-nutrition chain and the important feedbacks from these elements. This chapter, on the first elements of the commercialization chain, is therefore to be seen in the context of the following two chapters, and all the three synthesis chapters together are to be seen in the context of the rich insights from the individual studies discussed later.

Commercialization of agriculture and food security: Development strategy and trade policy issues

The choice between subsistence food crops, on the one hand, and cash crops, especially nonfood cash crops predominantly meant for exports, on the other hand, is a subject of considerable debate among policy makers as well as development specialists. The debate raises issues not only at the level of farming households but also at the level of national and international policies, including macroeconomic policies such as trade and exchange rate policies. This chapter reviews and focuses on those aspects of principal relevance in the context of an overall agrcultural development strategy and food security.

Conceptual framework

In this chapter, the basic theoretical relationships and definitional issues related to the commercialization of agriculture and described. Simply speaking, cash crops can be defined as crops for sale. The listing of typical agricultural processing enterprises in chapter 9 gives a rough overview of cash crops (also, see von Braun and Kennedy 1986). Yet, commercialization of agriculture as a process and a characteristic of agricultural change is more than whether or not a cash crop is present to a certain extent in a production system. Commercialization of subsistence agriculture and take many different forms.

Consumption effects of commercialization of agriculture

The commercialization of agricultur has, in many diverse circumstances, led both to an increase in household income and to changes in the way household resources are organized to earn that income, Have these changes meant that food intakes are more nutritions and that health and sanitation conditions are improved? This chapter addresses three central questions: (1) to what extent are increments in income spent on nonfood items, in particular, health-related items; (2) to what extent are increments in income spent on food, and (controlling income) dows the switch to commercial production alter the marginal propensities to spend on food; and (3) to what extent do increments in food expenditures lead to greater calorie intakes, both at the household level and at the individual preschooler level?

Conclusions for agricultural commercialization policy

Agricultural commercialization, economic development, and nutrition are linked with one another. Policies influence the strength and direction of these linkages and welfare outcomes. Ignoring the linkages may be to the disadvantage of the nutritional welfare of the poor; opportunities to improve the well-being of the poor may be lost. In this concluding chapter, we attempt to draw some generalized lessons from the receding chapters.