Politicizing Structural Adjustment Policies in Kenya’s Sugar Industry: Effects on pro-poor development outcomes

Recent debates reveal that implementation of agricultural policies that enhance productivity amongst small holder farmers present a viable strategy in promoting pro-poor growth. At the bedrock of globalization, neoliberal policies that advocate for liberalized markets and privatization in agriculture have attracted many proponents world over. In form of Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) Kenya initiated these policies in the early nineties in an effort to revamp and stabilize its agricultural sector and by extension the sugar industry. In questioning the outcome of these policies this paper examines the relevance of Kenya’s political economy and the role it plays. Through a comparative case study of smallholder farmers in the sugar belt region, the paper focuses on investigating the relevance of neo-patrimonialism in determining the outcome of these policies and to what extent they inform pro-poor development