A ‘Private-sector Success Story’? Uncovering the Role of Politics and the State in Kenya’s Horticultural Export Sector

Matthew Tyce

doi:10.1080/00220388.2020.1715944

Abstract

Kenya’s horticulture sector is often heralded as one of sub-Saharan Africa’s principal success stories. The country has become the region’s largest exporter of fresh fruits, vegetables and cut flowers to Europe and the sector is a major source of foreign exchange, employment and poverty reduction. Generally, the existing literature presents this as ‘a private-sector success story’, whereby a supposed limited role for the state allowed the private-sector to develop independently and innovatively react to shifting global market dynamics and sourcing strategies of European lead firms. This reflects the fact that research on Kenya’s horticultural sector has been dominated by scholars from a Global Value Chains/Global Production Networks (GVC/GPN) tradition, who tend to neglect the explanatory power of domestic political economy. This paper challenges these market-focused readings, arguing that the Kenyan state – and particularly the broader political context in which it is located – has played a more important role in Kenya’s horticultural success story than has generally been acknowledged. Using an historically-grounded form of political settlement analysis, this paper shows how domestic political economy and state-business dynamics have fused with the more transnational factors identified by GVC/GPN scholars to drive rapid and constant growth in Kenya’s horticultural exports since the 1970s.

Highlights

Kenya’s horticultural sector is often heralded as one of sub-Saharan Africa’s success stories
Using an historicallygrounded form of political settlement analysis, this paper shows how domestic political economy and statebusiness dynamics have fused with the more transnational factors identified by Global Value Chains/Global Production Networks (GVC/GPN) scholars to drive rapid and constant growth in Kenya’s horticultural exports since the 1970s
This is because capitalists who are influential and capable may utilise their holding power to lobby for selective productivity-enhancing interventions, or even for their sector to be somewhat insulated from the corrosive political dynamics that may be undermining governance within other areas of the economy

Summary

Introduction

Kenya’s horticultural sector is often heralded as one of sub-Saharan Africa’s success stories. Political settlement analysis (PSA) looks at how the distribution of power between ruling coalitions and competing factions influences the orientation of policymaking and the nature of state-business relations It complements the more transnational factors identified by GVC/GPN scholars by making domestic political economy and state-business dynamics an -important part of the picture. After outlining this approach, the paper offers an historical overview of how Kenya’s horticultural sector has developed over time, along with a summary of how scholars have explained its growth patterns. This suggests that PSA can be used to examine other sectors and settings where GVC/GPN analyses predominate

Conceptualising the role of politics and the state

Existing explanations for Kenya’s horticultural success story

Conclusion

Findings

Data availability statement