Covid-19: Shaping the Nexus between State-Business Relations and Global Value Chains: The Case of Horticulture in Kenya

Abstract

The effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on global value chains has been topical of late, yet little work has been done to explore how interactions between value chain businesses and state actors, which we refer to as the state-business relations and global value chain nexus (SBR-GVC nexus), have responded. Focusing on the French bean and avocado sectors in Kenya, this paper show how national and global measures to combat the pandemic significantly disrupted these horticultural sectors, affecting multiple aspects including the harvesting of avocado, monitoring of pesticide residue levels in French beans, and transport and logistics for both. As the SBR-GVC nexus in Kenyan horticulture has responded to these challenges, state actors have responded to business to facilitate logistics, and collaborated with business associations in hybrid regulatory structures. In these hybrid structures, leading exporters are monitoring and enforcing measures designed to protect human health and environmental effects as well as the quality of products. While it is too early to assess the longer-term impact of these dynamics, the paper explores their potential implications, identifying areas for future research.