Record Details

Killing the goose? The value chain for sorghum beer in Kenya

OAR@ICRISAT

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Field Value
 
Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/10440/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JADEE-03-2017-0028
10.1108/JADEE-03-2017-0028
 
Title Killing the goose? The value chain for sorghum beer in Kenya
 
Creator Orr, A
 
Subject Sorghum
African Agriculture
Agricultural Economics
East Africa
Kenya
Value Chains
 
Description Purpose
The decision by the Government of Kenya in 2013 to increase tax revenue by imposing excise duty of 50 percent on sorghum beer resulted in economic losses for smallholders, the brewery, and the government itself because it effectively killed the value chain. In 2015, the government reversed the policy decision and reduced excise duty to 10 percent. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of this policy decision on the value chain, adaptation by growers and the brewery, and the rationale for this policy change and its reversal.

Design/methodology/approach
The author analyzes this episode using a conceptual framework derived from complex adaptive systems, focusing on four properties of such systems: sudden, endogenous shocks, interacting agents, and adaptation.

Findings
The author shows how the nature of politics in Kenya exposed the value chain to endogenous shocks as the result of conflicts between interacting agents, where smallholder farmer organizations were important for successful adaptation. Conflicts between development and political objectives in neo-patrimonial states are sources of complexity and uncertainty in smallholder value chains.

Research limitations/implications
Complex adaptive systems proved a useful framework to understand decision making by government and business actors in the value chain.

Originality/value
The paper applies a novel conceptual framework to the analysis of an important value chain in Kenya.
 
Publisher Emerald Publishing
 
Date 2018
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/10440/1/Killing%20the%20Goose%20The%20Value%20Chain%20for%20Sorghum%20Beer%20in%20Kenya.pdf
Orr, A (2018) Killing the goose? The value chain for sorghum beer in Kenya. Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, 8 (1). pp. 34-53. ISSN 2044-0839