Has Low Productivity Constrained Competitiveness of African Firms? : Comparison of the Firm Performances with Asian Firms

It has been argued that poor productive performance is one of critical sources of stagnation of the African manufacturing sector, but firm-level empirical supports are limited. Using the inter-regional firm data of the garment industry, technical efficiency and its contribution to competitiveness measured as unit costs were compared between Kenyan and Bangladeshi firms. Our estimates indicated that there is no significant gap in the average technical efficiency of the two industries despite conservative estimation, although unit costs greatly differ between the two industries. Higher unit cost in Kenyan firms mainly stems from high labour cost, while impact of inefficiency is quite small. Productivity accounts little for the stagnation of garment industry in several African countries.

Clothing Export from sub-Saharan Africa : Impact on Poverty and Potential for Growth

Increases in clothing exports after 2000 signaled the first incidence of large-scale manufacturing exports from sub-Saharan Africa. Using firm-level information, this paper explores the potential of clothing exports for poverty reduction and further growth as seen in other low income countries. It shows that the garment exporting industries in Kenya and Madagascar have contributed poverty reduction in the short term by providing mass employment for female and less educated workers with wages beyond the poverty line. However, the long-term impact is not certain. High production costs and limited development of local firms weaken potential for further growth in the competitive world market. Upgrading of the market and improvement of efficiency are required to remain competitive for African industries, and governmental support for local participation are needed to facilitate technology transfer.

FDI and Export Participation of Local Firms in Africa: The Case of the Kenyan Garment Industry

FDI in the garment sector has been the single case of large-scale manufacturing investment in African low-income countries since the 1990s. While FDI has triggered the development of local industries in many developing countries, it has not yet been realized in Africa. This paper describes the spillover process in the Kenyan garment industry and investigates the background of local firms' behavior through firm interviews and simulation of expected profits in export market. It shows that credit constraint, rather than absorptive capacity, is a primary source of inactive participation in export opportunity. Only firms which afford additional production facilities without sacrificing stable domestic supply may be motivated to start exporting. However, in comparison with successful Asian exporters, those firms were not as motivated as Asian firms due to the large gap in expected profits.

Slow and steady wins the race : how the garment industry leads industrialization in low-income countries

This paper investigates how the garment industry escapes this vicious cycle and argues for the validity of labor-intensive industry as a starting point for full-fledged industrialization, even though it might at first seem to be a digression from the path to an innovation-led economy. By examining original firm-level data on garment-producing firms collected in 2002 and 2008 in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya and Madagascar, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) low wages, though still sufficient for poverty reduction, are the main source of competitiveness in low-income countries; (2) after the successful initiation of industrialization causes wages to begin to rise, there is still a possibility for productivity enhancement; and (3) skill bias in technological progress is not yet a major factor, implying that the garment industry is still a labor-intensive industry. In sum, labor-intensive industry should not be discounted as a part of the development strategy of low-income countries.

ケニアにおけるテロ関連暴力とその影響 -- 2014年6月のコースト・ンペケトニ事件を中心に

2011年10月のケニア国軍による南部ソマリアへの越境攻撃開始後、ケニアではアッシャバーブの報復攻撃とみられるテロが多発している。そのケニアで、2014年6月、ソマリア国境に近いンペケトニと呼ばれる一帯において大規模な住民襲撃事件が発生した。アッシャバーブがすぐに犯行声明を出したものの、ケニアのケニヤッタ大統領はアッシャバーブの犯行を否定し、「特定コミュニティを標的にしたエスニック・バイオレンス」だとの見解を表明した。ンペケトニ事件は、「悪化するテロ対ケニア政府による治安強化」というこれまでの図式に、いかなる波紋を投じたものだったのだろうか。本稿では、このンペケトニ事件を整理し、ケニア政府側の対応を追いながら、ンペケトニ周辺の土地問題と民族的分布との関係、与野党対立の現状、そしてケニアのインド洋沿岸を舞台に今も続く分離主義運動を中心に事件の背景を探り、今後の影響を考察する。

牧畜社会の食料安全保障における地域セーフティネットの意義 -- ケニア北部レンディーレ社会の事例から

アフリカの乾燥・半乾燥地域では近年、干ばつや集中豪雨といった自然災害の発生頻度が高くなっている。そのため、30年以上にわたって食料援助に頼ってきた干ばつ対策の限界が指摘され、この地域に暮らす牧畜民の食料安全保障の確立が重要課題となった。本稿は、北ケニアのレンディーレ社会における食料確保をめぐる地域セーフティネットの分析をとおして牧畜社会の食料安全保障を考察した。その結果、牧畜民は唯一の生計維持手段である家畜飼養を高い移動性をもつ放牧キャンプで行なう一方、町の商人との信頼関係にもとづくつけ買いで農産物を確保し、さらに集落における相互扶助を重視した食料分配によって食料の安定確保を実現していることが明らかになった。自然災害に対応できる食料安全保障を確立するためには、このような地域セーフティネットに災害の予防・対応能力をもたせ、地域全体の食料生産・流通・利用を強化していくことが重要である。

誰が「海賊」を処罰するのか? -- 「地域訴追モデル」とケニアにおける海賊裁判

2000年代半ば以降、アデン湾・ソマリア沖で急増した海賊問題は、海賊の取締や処罰を国際社会に問い直す問題である。海賊の不処罰が顕在化する中で新たな対応に迫られた国際社会は、様々な選択肢の中で拿捕国が拘束した海賊被疑者をソマリア近隣諸国へ引渡し、第三国が普遍的管轄権のもとで訴追・処罰する「地域訴追モデル」を次善策とみなした。ケニアはソマリア近隣諸国の中で最も多くのソマリ海賊被疑者を受入れ、処罰してきた。本稿ではケニアの先駆的な海賊裁判の事例から「地域訴追モデル」の問題を明らかにし、海賊および海上犯罪を処罰するためにどのような取り組みが必要であるか検討する。

ケニア・サンブル女性の結婚をめぐる主体性の創出過程 -- 恋愛結婚・非婚に注目して

ケニアのサンブル女性には、従来、みずからの結婚の時期についても相手についても、いっさい何の決定権もなく、ただ決められた結婚にしたがうという選択肢しか与えられていなかった。また、「恋愛結婚」をする人は、例外的には存在してきたが、「規範の逸脱者」としてネガティブにとらえられてきた。しかしながら近年、サンブルの結婚の形態は大きく変わりつつある。学校教育を受けた女性を中心に未婚の母となる女性が増加し、彼女らのなかには、出産後に恋愛相手と結婚する人や生涯独身をつらぬこうとする人も登場している。本稿では、サンブルの女性が、いかなる背景のもとに、どのような方法で、みずからの結婚にかんする主体性を創出しているのかを、いくつかの事例から明らかにする。

AFRICA BUILD Portal: developing a social network of African health researchers and educators

One of the main outputs of the project is a collaborative platform which integrates a myriad of research and learning resources. This article presents the first prototype of this platform: the AFRICA BUILD Portal (ABP 1.0). The ABP is a Web 2.0 platform which facilitates the access, in a collaborative manner, to these resources. Through a usable web interface, the ABP has been designed to avoid, as much as possible, the connectivity problems of African institutions. In this paper, we suggest that the access to complex systems does not imply slow response rates, and that their development model guides the project to a natural technological transfer, adaptation and user acceptance. Finally, this platform aims to motivate research attitudes during the learning process and stimulate user?s collaborations.

Evidence for clonal propagation in natural isolates of Plasmodium falciparum from Venezuela

We have analyzed 75 isolates of Plasmodium falciparum, collected in Venezuela during both the dry (November) and rainy (May–July) seasons, with a range of genetic markers including antigen genes and 14 random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers. Thirteen P. falciparum stocks from Kenya and four other Plasmodium species are included in the analysis for comparison. Cross-hybridization shows that the 14 RAPD primers reveal 14 separate regions of the parasite's genome. The P. falciparum isolates are a monophyletic clade, significantly different from the other Plasmodium species. We identify three RAPD characters that could be useful as “tags” for rapid species identification. The Venezuelan genotypes fall into two discrete genetic subdivisions associated with either the dry or the rainy season; the isolates collected in the rainy season exhibit greater genetic diversity. There is significant linkage disequilibrium in each seasonal subsample and in the full sample. In contrast, no linkage disequilibrium is detected in the African sample. These results support the hypothesis that the population structure of P. falciparum in Venezuela, but not in Africa, is predominantly clonal. However, the impact of genetic recombination on Venezuelan P. falciparum seems higher than in parasitic species with long-term clonal evolution like Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas' disease. The genetic structure of the Venezuelan samples is similar to that of Escherichia coli, a bacterium that propagates clonally, with occasional genetic recombination.

Chloroplast DNA variation and the recent radiation of the giant senecios (Asteraceae) on the tall mountains of eastern Africa.

Chloroplast DNA restriction-site variation was surveyed among 40 accessions representing all 11 species of giant senecios (Dendrosenecio, Asteraceae) at all but one known location, plus three outgroup species. Remarkably little variation (only 9 variable sites out of roughly 1000 sites examined) was found among the 40 giant senecio accessions, yet as a group they differ significantly (at 18 sites) from Cineraria deltoidea, the closest known relative. This pattern indicates that the giant senecios underwent a recent dramatic radiation in eastern Africa and evolved from a relatively isolated lineage within the Senecioneae. Biogeographic interpretation of the molecular phylogeny suggests that the giant senecios originated high on Mt. Kilimanjaro, with subsequent dispersion to the Aberdares, Mt. Kenya, and the Cherangani Hills, followed by dispersion westward to the Ruwenzori Mountains, and then south to the Virunga Mountains, Mt. Kahuzi, and Mt. Muhi, but with dispersion back to Mt. Elgon. Geographic radiation was an important antecedent to the diversification in eastern Africa, which primarily involved repeated altitudinal radiation, both up and down the mountains, leading to morphological parallelism in both directions. In general, the plants on a given mountain are more closely related to each other than they are to plants on other mountains, and plants on nearby mountains are more closely related to each other than they are to plants on more distant mountains. The individual steps of the geographic radiation have occurred at various altitudes, some clearly the result of intermountain dispersal. The molecular evidence suggests that two species are extant ancestors to other species on the same or nearby mountains.