Following the 1930s depression, the recovery of coffee production was lifted by wartime price supports and sustained by the primary commodities boom which entered into a cycle of decline from the mid-fifties. The ensuing period became one of deepening financial crisis for coffee producing countries. Even so, the Latin American producers continued to increase their production bringing on a glut in world markets. This unleashed intense competitive struggles amongst global producers for larger slices of a contracting market. The prospect of an economic catastrophe, following the release of surplus stocks, preoccupied Kenya’s colonial government which, whilst dependent on tax revenues derived from coffee sales, was less able to support the settler dominated industry in face of the increased costs incurred by the Mau Mau Emergency after 1952. This left the settlers exposed when many were barely able to recover their costs of production. Unrelenting global market pressures then compelled the colonial government to beckon low cost African farmers into coffee production in a bid to save its tax base. Changes in the organisation and regulation of the commodity chain, which were globally driven, were decisive in reconfiguring the economic and social relationships which underpinned Kenya’s independence.
- Home
- Publications
- Working Papers
- Working Paper 33
- Working Paper 32
- Working Paper 31
- Working Paper 30
- Working Paper 29
- Working Paper 28
- Working Paper 27
- Working Paper 26
- Working Paper 25
- Working Paper 24
- Working Paper 23
- Working Paper 22
- Working Paper 21
- Working Paper 20
- Working Paper 19
- Working Paper 18
- Working Paper 17
- Working Paper 16
- Working Paper 15
- Working Paper 14
- Working Paper 13
- Working Paper 12
- Working Paper 11
- Working Paper 10
- Working Paper 9
- Working Paper 8
- Working Paper 7
- Working Paper 6
- Working Paper 5
- Working Paper 4
- Working Paper 3
- Working Paper 2
- Working Paper 1
- Local Subversions of Colonial Cultures
- Global Histories, Imperial Commodities, Local Interactions
- Working Papers
- About
- Events
- Contact
- Research
- Audio-Visual
- Helen Cowie Bibliography