Kenya

Agricultural extension programs based on the Training and Visit (T&V) system are operating in some thirty-one Sub-Saharan African countries. Evidence from Kenya and... Show More + Burkina Faso shows that T&V management enhance the effectiveness of extension and that such programs support agricultural growth and produce high returns on investments. The data indicate that areas served by extension have higher yields and that within these areas the highest yields are achieved by farmers who participate directly in extension activities. As a result, extension helps to close the gap between die yields attainable with existing technologies and those actually realized by farmers. Closing this gap improves agricultural productivity in the short run, but long-term increases in output in Sub-Saharan Africa will depend on the development of improved technologies that are relevant to local conditions. Show Less -

The appropriate fiscal response to a temporary terms of trade windfall is difficult to determine, even in an unregulated economy. But controls, such as those in force... Show More + during the 1976-79 coffee boom in Kenya, introduce special problems. For example, foreign exchange controls make the private investment of boom income inefficient by causing it to be undertaken too rapidly. In Kenya the boom induced a massive increase in public expenditure, far in excess of the increase in public revenue. The net effect on capital formation was negative because the fiscal response exacerbated the rise in the relative price of nontraded capital goods, and because resources were preempted for government consumption. Show Less -

The economic theory of "Dutch Disease" is extended and applied to the 1976-79 coffee boom in Kenya in this article. When a commodity boom is perceived as temporary,... Show More + a large fraction will tend to be saved out of transient income. The spending effect of the boom is supplemented by relative price changes resulting from capital stock increases. In the presence of foreign exchange and import controls, the benefits of a sudden export price increase may be transferred intersectorally. Using a general equilibrium model, it is estimated that in Kenya the benefits of the boom were largely transferred from coffee growers to urban groups. Show Less -

The Kenyan export structure is an expression of numerous trade problems that face Kenya today. Kenya's exports have a heavy concentration on agricultural products, mainly... Show More + coffee and tea, and a failure to develop viable and efficient alternatives. This, as well as low growth of manufactured exports, explain Kenya's poor performance in world trade. Diversification in the composition of Kenya's export structure is essential if national development efforts in the long-run perspective are to have a better chance of success. Kenya will have to encourage and permit a fast growth of processing and manufacturing through a balanced strategy aimed at accomplishing both import-substitution and export expansion goals. This can be accomplished by reducing import and export duty rates and by providing significant incentives to generate and sustain industrial growth in the export sector. Show Less -