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Can Agro‐dealers Deliver the Green Revolution in Kenya?

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  • Hannington Odame
  • Elijah Muange

Abstract

Kenya is in many ways the ‘poster child’ for Africa's new Green Revolution, with numerous public‐private partnerships promoting agricultural innovation and rural entrepreneurship through a growing network of agro‐dealers. Despite numerous claims that the agro‐dealer model offers the best approach for delivering new seeds and other modern technologies to the country's small producers, this article highlights how reality on the ground has yet to match expectations. Drawing on surveys of agro‐dealers in two contrasting agricultural districts and interviews with key informants, it shows how, despite considerable investment by a range of public and private actors, agro‐dealers remain spread unevenly across the country and are inevitably concentrated in the higher potential agricultural areas. The changing structure of the Kenyan seed industry and the entry of large multinational and philanthropic players – who are focusing mainly on delivery of hybrid maize and fertilisers – are shifting this dynamic further. This approach is acting to narrow the choice of seeds and crop types to farmers in all areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Hannington Odame & Elijah Muange, 2011. "Can Agro‐dealers Deliver the Green Revolution in Kenya?," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(4), pages 78-89, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:idsxxx:v:42:y:2011:i:4:p:78-89
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/idsb.2011.42.issue-4
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Coomes, Oliver T. & McGuire, Shawn J. & Garine, Eric & Caillon, Sophie & McKey, Doyle & Demeulenaere, Elise & Jarvis, Devra & Aistara, Guntra & Barnaud, Adeline & Clouvel, Pascal & Emperaire, Laure & , 2015. "Farmer seed networks make a limited contribution to agriculture? Four common misconceptions," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 41-50.
    2. Megan Mucioki & Bernard Pelletier & Timothy Johns & Lutta W. Muhammad & Gordon M. Hickey, 2018. "On developing a scale to measure chronic household seed insecurity in semi-arid Kenya and the implications for food security policy," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(3), pages 571-587, June.
    3. Manzoor H. Dar & Dilruba A. Bano & Showkat A. Waza & Najam W. Zaidi & Asma Majid & Asif B. Shikari & M. Ashraf Ahangar & Mosharaf Hossain & Arvind Kumar & Uma S. Singh, 2021. "Abiotic Stress Tolerance-Progress and Pathways of Sustainable Rice Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    4. Shawn McGuire & Louise Sperling, 2016. "Seed systems smallholder farmers use," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(1), pages 179-195, February.
    5. Fischer, Klara, 2016. "Why new crop technology is not scale-neutral—A critique of the expectations for a crop-based African Green Revolution," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1185-1194.
    6. Shawn McGuire & Louise Sperling, 2016. "Seed systems smallholder farmers use," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(1), pages 179-195, February.
    7. Hornum, Sebastian Toft & Bolwig, Simon, 2021. "A functional analysis of the role of input suppliers in an agricultural innovation system: The case of small-scale irrigation in Kenya," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    8. Rutsaert, Pieter & Donovan, Jason & Kimenju, Simon, 2021. "Demand-side challenges to increase sales of new maize hybrids in Kenya," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    9. Pieter Rutsaert & Jordan Chamberlin & Kevin Ong’are Oluoch & Victor Ochieng Kitoto & Jason Donovan, 2021. "The geography of agricultural input markets in rural Tanzania," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(6), pages 1379-1391, December.

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