Price as a political construct: institutionalization trajectories and valorization of agroecology in Kenya

Norms and standards can either exclude players from the market, or contribute to higher values and a better distribution of the added value among the economic agents.
In this paper, we state a reminder that institutionalization and valorization, i.e., politics and economics, are the main drivers for change, and that one can hardly be sustainable over time without including the other.
We will show that institutionalization of agroecology, i.e., the process of developing or transforming rules and procedures that influence a set of human interactions, must go hand to hand with valorization, i.e., to enhance or try to enhance the price, value, or status by organized and governmental action.
We will use the case study of Kenya and the development of agroecology in the country since its independence.
We will first provide the historical background of the agricultural development of the country: the colonial legacy, the socialism of the seventies, the impact of the liberalization era with the Washington consensus, and the recent emergence of agroecology.
In a second section (results and discussion), we will describe the main drivers of the institutionalization of agroecology in the country.
We will illustrate how agroecology struggles with the still prevalent dominance of conventional agriculture.
A reason for this situation is the prevalence of the informal sector which excludes many farmers from formal support, including credit schemes and support policies.
Institutionalization and valorization need to interact through price and credit incentives in order to provide the proper political and economic framework for environmental-friendly innovation adoption.
In conclusion, a role of the State is to reduce uncertainty and risks, with the aim of promoting investments.
Prices crystalize the antagonism between market and political failures and the formal and informal sector.
Agroecology (mostly informal) and organic farming (formal) reflect the impact of the informal sector and the role of State intervention.
Agroecology and organic farming can be the symptoms of the market and the State coexistence, or put differently, market or State failures.

XXXI International Horticultural Congress (IHC2022): International Symposium on Agroecology and System Approach for Sustainable and Resilient Horticultural Production

L. Parrot

institutions, organic agriculture, political agroecology, economics, history, Kenya

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1355.39