The socio-economic and ecological impacts of the agro-industrial food chain on the rural economy in Kenya

Ambio

Volumn 29, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 35-41

  Opodon, M M ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI   (Kenya)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AGROINDUSTRY; FOOD CHAIN; FOOD INDUSTRY; GLOBALIZATION; RURAL ECONOMY;

KENYA;

EID: 12944288248     PISSN: 00447447     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1579/0044-7447-29.1.35     Document Type: Article

References (24)

1. Wallace, I. 1985. Towards a geography of agribusiness. Progress in Human Geography 9, 491-514.
2. Winson, A. 1988. Researching the Food Processing-Farming Chain: the Case of Novia Scotia. Can. Rev. Social. Anthropol. 25. 520-559.
3. Bowler, I.R. and Ilbery, R.W. 1987. Redefining Agricultural Geography, Area 19, 327-332.
4. Bowler, I.R. 1992. The Industrialization of Agriculture. In: The Geography of Agriculture in Developed Market Economies. Bowler, I.R. (ed.). Longman Scientific and Technical: Harlow, pp. 7-31.
5. Nuhn, H. 1993. Konzepte zur Beschreibung und Analyse des Produktionssystems unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Nahrungsmittelindustrie. Z. Wirtschaftsgeographie 37, 137-142.
6. Malmberg, A. 1994. Industrial Geography. Progress in Human Geography 18, 532-540.
7. The concepts of globalization and internationalization are wrought with a lot of controversies, and their explicit definition are beyond the scope of this article. Suffice to say that, globalization and internationalization have specific attributes (such as the of rise of global markets and economic integration) that point at significant changes that have and are still taking place. Knutsen (8) gives a critical overview of the different theoretical perspectives of globalization and internationalisation.
8. Knutsen, H.M. 1998. Globalization and international division of labour: two concepts - one debate? Norsk geogr. Tidsskr. 52, 151-163.
9. A symbiotic contract is that in which there is close interaction between the farmer and the contractor. This type of contract usually consists of certain conditions, such as: provision of inputs (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides) to the farmers on credit to ensure right quality and variety; written agreement on the price per unit of raw material; specifications on the type, quantity and quality of raw material; collection of the raw material by the contractor; provision of technical advice and exchange of information between the growers and the contractor; provision of equipment on hire (for example, tractors, irrigation equipment).
10. Republic of Kenya 1989. Kenya's Efforts to Conserve Soil Water and Forests 1987/ 1988. Office of the President: Nairobi, Kenya.
11. Miller, L. 1995. Agribusiness, Contract Farmers and Land-use Sustainability in North West Tasmania. Australian Geographer 26, 104-111.
12. Green, G.P. and Heffernan, W.D. 1987. Soil erosion and the perception problem. J. Rural Stud. 3, 151-157.
13. United Nations Environment Programme 1982. Environmental Guidelines for Pesticide Use on industrial Crop's. UNEP Environmental Management Guidelines, No. 1, UNEP: Nairobi. Kenya.
14. Ward, N. and Munton, R. 1992. Conceptualizing agriculture - environment relations: combining political economy and socio-cultural approaches to pesticide pollution', Social. Ruralis 32, 127-46.
15. Republic of Kenya 1994. Development Plan 1994-1996, Government Printer. Nairobi, Kenya.
16. The Horticultural News 1996. May-June, Kem Trust: Nairobi, Kenya.
17. The Horticultural News 1995. Safe Use of Chemicals, May-June, Kem Trust: Nairobi, pp. 3-12.
18. Opondo, M.M. 1997. The Dynamics of the Agro-Industrial Food Chain in Kenya. Institut für Afrika-Kunde, Hamburg, Germany.
19. Soil and water conservation is carried out using two approaches, referred to as labor-intensive and mechanized methods. The former involves use of human labor in curbing soil erosion on steep slopes where mechanization is made impossible by steep land surfaces. This involves two methods. One is the laying and construction of cut-off drains (these are diversion ditches that prevent destruction of farmland in the lower slopes by water from an upper catchment area), and two are artificial waterways where no natural drainage exists. The "mechanized methods" approach takes place on farmland that is not so steep and that permits the use of machinery to carry out soil and water conservation activities. These activities consist of terracing, levelling, construction of water-holes and dams, and drainage works. The costs of these soil conservation measures are shared between the farmer and the government (10, 20).
20. Njoroge, S.N.J. 1982. Soil and Water Conservation Extension: The Kenyan Experience. In: Proceedings, Second National Workshop on Soil and Water in Kenya. Thomas, D.B. and Senga, W.M. (eds). Institute for Development Studies and Faculty of Agriculture, Univ. of Nairobi, Occasional Paper No. 42, pp. 174-84.
21. Jaffee, S. 1987. Case Studies of Contract Farming in the Horticultural Sector of Kenya. Working Paper, No. 83, Institute for Development Anthropology, Binghamton, New York.
22. Little, P.D. 1994. Contract Farming and the Development Question. In: Living under Contract - Contract Farming and Agrarian Transformation in Sub-Sahara Africa. Little, P.D. and Watts, M.J. (eds). Madison, Wisconsin, pp. 216-247.
23. The terms "family-owned" and "single ownership" need a bit of clarification, since in both cases family labor is the major source for employment on the farm. The latter basically refers to those farms which are ancestral or inherited and therefore, theoretically, belong to more than one person. Single ownership, on the other hand, refers to farms which are individually owned and could also be occupied by a family.
24. -2).