Thanks - very informative read. Just a note on the Chinese lenders: the "policy banks" are China Development Bank and China Export Import Bank, which offer concessional lending. I believe China ExIm Bank provided the loans for the SGR in Kenya. ICBC, Bank of China, Construction Bank etc are commercial banks with majority govt ownership. Their loans are offered at commercial rates. And Sinosure is primarily a state owned insurer, rather than lender, for overseas projects.
Why didn't Kenya invest more in irrigation despite having drought and low farm productivity? They borrowed to invest in education, health and infrastructure (which is fine) but as a food importer you need manage food security.
I am honestly trying to figure out why. But I am not getting answers that make sense when I interview people. I keep hearing "corruption'" and "neglect", but those answers really don't satisfy me.
There's huge corruption with ethiopia's agriculture too but they still boosted yields tremendously.
It might be the lack of individual property rights. Farmers aren't incentived to work for higher yields if their extra income will extracted by their clan leaders. Since there is no private incentive to increase yields there is no political incentive to invest in irrigation. It's property rights all the way down. Land reform needs to be central Africa's development strategy.
Thanks - very informative read. Just a note on the Chinese lenders: the "policy banks" are China Development Bank and China Export Import Bank, which offer concessional lending. I believe China ExIm Bank provided the loans for the SGR in Kenya. ICBC, Bank of China, Construction Bank etc are commercial banks with majority govt ownership. Their loans are offered at commercial rates. And Sinosure is primarily a state owned insurer, rather than lender, for overseas projects.
Thanks for that, Made updates!
Very good piece, Yaw. You deserve more comments.
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In view of contemporary events . . .
A brief history of the genocides and Scientific Racism of The Anglosphere.
The present is written in the past. Including in Africa which receives some attention.
https://les7eb.substack.com/p/genocide-and-economics
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Why didn't Kenya invest more in irrigation despite having drought and low farm productivity? They borrowed to invest in education, health and infrastructure (which is fine) but as a food importer you need manage food security.
I am honestly trying to figure out why. But I am not getting answers that make sense when I interview people. I keep hearing "corruption'" and "neglect", but those answers really don't satisfy me.
There's huge corruption with ethiopia's agriculture too but they still boosted yields tremendously.
It might be the lack of individual property rights. Farmers aren't incentived to work for higher yields if their extra income will extracted by their clan leaders. Since there is no private incentive to increase yields there is no political incentive to invest in irrigation. It's property rights all the way down. Land reform needs to be central Africa's development strategy.