Change in state power, international conditions and peasant producers : the case of Kenya

Arguments for food-self-sufficiency at the level of small-scale farms invariably refer to the need for national self-sufficiency. This article shows that state-inspired attempts to impose self-sufficiency upon specialised middle peasant producers in Kenya have had the effect of reducing the supply of marketed food and increasing food imports. Only very specific political conditions make it possible for international and internal circuits of capital and exchange to be harmonised through the power of a nation state. (DSE)