Research and Shrinking Market; Which One is Expensive?

In a previous post, I wondered aloud if the Kenyan macadamia processing fraternity was particularly anathema to research. In this post I further discuss possibilities to research as presented and ignored by the Kenyan processors. This is surprising especially in cognizance of the face of a potentially shrinking market for kernel as traditionally presented to the buyer.

Death of a Beauty

Sometime last year, the Kenyan media covered a story about the death of a young woman from a prominent family. What was to later dominate the news was not even the unfortunate demise of the young beauty, but the revelation of who the late was dating at the time of her demise. There emerged pictures of a scruffy ‘old’ man wearing a mane of a beard and tousled hair, sprinkled with brown and grey. Whatever the haters said about the lucky man, all I could afford was loads of envy for this good fated son of a woman. Those memories were reopened sometime last month, when the inquest into this puzzle was opened. Apart from the jealousy I felt for the damn lucky fellow, I couldn’t help going nuts about it.

Adults Only

So, what is so nuts about two lovers and the mysterious death of a beauty? It emerged that the young angel was a big shot in her family business. Their line of trade is the manufacture of some intoxicating drinks, which are sold exclusively to people aged 18 years and above. A very good business this is, for it showcased the possibility of a local entrepreneur taking on a foreign owned giant that had dominated the market, for decades competing against itself. Patriotic fervor aside, what really started me thinking of something beyond the affair was the position the beautiful lady occupied within the family business. She was in charge of research and product development. Interesting; isn’t it?

Nothing To Observe In A Nutshell?

In a previous post, I entertained this theme on research, lamenting about how our nuts industry doesn’t support academic institutions in research into how they could improve on their products, develop new ones and conquer new horizons in terms of markets. The story of the beautiful young lady and her career sent me reflecting on this industry from another angle in relation to research. A look at the various departments found in all the nut companies reveals the sad truth that they do not have very high regard for research. None has a research department. The most sophisticated of them could have a mini lab for analysis which is purely interested in determining the presence of contaminants such as heavy metals.

All The Costs!

The argument could be advanced that departments are costly. How about personnel? Let us get back home and consider this. When a macadamia processor is hiring, you will find advertisement for a person who knows how to operate the monster that chews the hard shell in order to set free the tasty and crunchy kernel; a person who knows how to operate the boiler for the driers…one who knows how to differentiate between mature and premature kernel, determine the level of moisture in the nut; one who is capable of handling kernel taxonomy et cetra. Nothing for a researcher.

Big Or Small Market: Good Or Bad?

I intentionally mentioned the age bracket targeted by the products of the unnamed company because this shows us how limited the market for these products is. For an industry like the nuts family, which doesn’t have constraints in terms of reach, is it not full of opportunities for research on the range of products, and the concomitant market segments that could be targeted? Let us go back to the CBI research paper which we have been milking for the last few posts. The report indicates that the macadamia sub sector alone commanded Ksh. 10,695,000,000 as per the 2018 figures. Even though we don’t have the balance sheet of the company in question for comparison purposes, it is obvious that even if the company’s figures just did away with the 10 in our figure, the balance would still be very handsome.

Little Drop In The Ocean?

Let us suppose another operation. Let us assume out of the 27 registered macadamia processors, only 10 are active. Let us also entertain the idea that these processors share the income equally. It means each of the 10 flies away with something to the tune of Ksh. 1,069,500,000. Let us suppose the Ksh. 1,000,000,000 goes into production costs. If you took just 1% of 69,500,000, you get Ksh. 6,950,000. Imagine what could happen if every macadamia processor devoted only 1% of their profits to research! All factors being held constant, it would translate to a processor pumping almost Ksh.7 million into research every year. In the 9 years within which major changes are supposed to be witnessed on the scene, this research would make the processors so ready to embrace and harness the change and turn it into an opportunity. Needless to say, some of these companies are consortia. By our estimates as shown, a consortium of five companies as known to exist in the macadamia field is capable of devoting up to Ksh. 35 million every year towards research. Just what kind of research would such a company be capable of; how far would it be ahead of her competition?

To Hold Or Not To Hold Hands?

Individual processor approach to research has an inherent danger of duplication. That is the danger looming in the current state of an organization like NutPak; were the processors to embrace research. Given the disjointed nature of its membership, NutPak is thus not in good stead to act as the mansion under which such crucial research can be coordinated. Weak member affiliation might not enable the remittance of the necessary contributions that could be devoted towards well directed research.

Stationary In Research; Together

In terms of philosophical orientation, NutPak has the same mindset as say a donor dependent NGO rather than an organization for industrialists commanding such huge sums of money. Top on its objectives is liaison with donors. It is not very well articulated whether NutPak is meant to donate money towards donor agencies so that the same could be given to the needy or if it seeks to benefit from donor handouts. The former is quite unlikely. That brings us to the concept of the third world, which we alluded to in an earlier post. An organization like NutPak, which is supposedly the mother of the big boys and girls, still looks up to someone else for donations. In general terms, there is also the age old dichotomy between industry and the academy, whereby issues such as research are associated with the ivory tower that academic institutions are supposed to be. It begs the question, how does industry grow and advance when the two sectors do not support each other?

Moving The Mountain?

Most instructive in this is the national paradigm. Examples abound from the public sector where we expect to reap from places where we invest nothing or very little. As we have argued on this wall before, as soon as the cow starts to produce milk, we want to milk it dry without feeding and being good to it so as to encourage it to bear. When the milk is not flowing freely and in plenty, we do the next sensible thing – we slay the cow for the meat. We celebrate a few days of abundance with a tight cabal of friends and relatives. Next we wonder why we no longer have milk; and go back to harking to our sympathizers to come and bail us out.  By and large, the Kenyan nut processor is yet to recognize the importance of research as an integral part of the prosperity of the nuts industry. It is a sad state of affairs.

 

Written By Amadi Kwaa Atsiaya