Flowers and food security in Naivasha, Kenya

What is it about?

Foreign agribusiness investments are widely posited as drivers of local development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) through aid for trade, an approach that is postulated to generate win-win outcomes for both the investor and the host country. One such key “win” is the creation of employment opportunities in the SSA context, where unemployment rates are extremely high. Critics, however, contend that these investments compete for important natural resources and labour essential for local development. A key question that emerges is how, through employment, these investments impact the quality of life of local populations in the host countries. I address this question by examining the status of food security among wage labourers in the foreign-investor-dominated floriculture sector in Naivasha, Kenya, under the premise that food constitutes a basic livelihood need that must be met as a bare minimum requirement for survival. In addition, food illuminates multiple aspects of life that deepen our understanding of wage labourers’ livelihoods. I employed structured and semi-structured interviews, ethnographic methods of observation, and informal conversations to engage with a select pool of interlocutors comprising wage labourers, floriculture companies, local market operators, and smallholder farmers. The findings of this research study challenge normative ideas of local development as conceived through the imaginaries of foreign agribusiness contributions by dint of wage labour and, by extension, technology transfer and food security, and discuss innovative strategies employed by wage labourers to secure food by leveraging key social networks.

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Why is it important?

It sheds light on the intricate relationships between agribusiness, labour, and local livelihoods in African contexts.

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