Global Economic Influences and Local Labor Relations in the Reorganization of an Agro-Industrial Center
Final Report Abstract
The booming cut flower production is the main driver of change in the social-ecological system (SES) of Lake Naivasha. Since the 1970s, Lake Naivasha became a convergence zone for floriculture and other horticulture investors, wildlife conservancies, geothermal energy production in the hinterland, tourist investors and commercial large-scale livestock ranches. Since the 1990s, the boom of the horticulture and cut flower industry has further triggered a number of processes that led to a substantial and still ongoing reorganization of the SES of the Lake Naivasha area. It induced a massive in-migration from all over Kenya, a rapid increase of population, and a comprehensive transformation of land use and land ownership structures. We focused on this agro-industrial complex with the aim to explore the entanglements between global economic influences, local social dynamics, and their impacts on resilience and reorganization of the local SES. With regard to the overarching conceptual framework of the research unit, we challenged the inherent ‘spatial fix’ of SES-approaches by extending the view into two directions: First, the territoriality of SES and resilience concepts was critically assessed by taking a multi-scalar perspective that views locally confined systems in wider spatial contexts. Secondly, the project addressed the social aspects and coupling effects of the local SES by explicitly focussing on social dynamics as a consequence of global influences. The geographical contribution focussed on the global value chain (GVC) of flower production and marketing. The key question was how 'global' market dynamics influence local processes in Naivasha. The guiding questions aimed at three issues: (1) the organisation and governance structure of the GVC (role of economic actors and drivers, institutional setting, standards); (2) the direct impact of the GVC on cut flower farming in Naivasha (i.e., farm organization, specialization processes, production); and (3) the functional relationships and interactions between flower farms and their social-economic and social-ecological environment. The highly dynamic social organization of workers in the flower industry was the focal point of anthropological research. The key question here was how labourers in the flower industry establish new patterns of social organization focused on wage labour with strong ties to one industry, that is, patterns of social organization in respect to industrial employment and informal urban settlement. Guiding questions address three major issues: (1) the organization of labour, including the recent rise of trade unions and ethical standards; (2) the consequences of wage labour for household economies, community building, and social dynamics in the new settlements; and (3) the translocal connections between the labour dynamics in Naivasha and social and economic processes in other parts of the country, for example with regard to extensive family networks. The anthropological part thus looked at social processes in and beyond Naivasha as they were influenced by the global flower industry. This ethnographic study of the growing Naivasha agro-industrial complex was also meant to fill a pertinent research gap: anthropologists have largely neglected agro-industrial working relations, the social ramifications of emergent agro-hubs and the translocal relations of agro-industrial workers.. An increased participation in social and environmental standards has been one of the industry's strategies for the future. Other practices of future-making of the farms are new marketing strategies and lobbyism. Their future relies on their reputation and social networks. Future-making practices of workers are also largely based in networks, both in Naivasha. The future of the SES around Lake Naivasha depends heavily on dynamics within regional labour networks and even more so within the global value chain of the flower industry.
Publications
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(2015) "Flowering Business: Battles for Control Over the Cut Flower Industry in Kenya", Deutscher Kongress für Geographie, Berlin, 1 October 2015
Gemählich, A., Müller-Mahn, D.
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(2015) "News from an established industry: the materialization of the global cut flower business at Lake Naivasha, Kenya", international workshop "Transforming Africa - Africa Transforming", University of Cologne in Stellenbosch, South Africa, 26 November 2015
Gemählich, A,, Kuiper, G.
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(2016) "The contested future of Lake Naivasha: doom or bloom?", international conference "Political Ecologies of Conflict, Capitalism and Contestation", Wageningen UR, The Netherlands, 9 July 2016
Gemählich, A., Kuiper, G.
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(2017). "Bees and flowers. Processes of agricultural intensification in Kenya", "Africa Tomorrow", Groningen, the Netherlands, 26 May 2017
Kuiper, G., Mwaka, I.
