Sunshine: A Curse or a Boon?

The curse of plenty or resource curse is a theory that attempts to explain why countries rich with natural resources are likely to be economically underdeveloped.

In this case, economic underdevelopment is defined as

• Huge wealth gap,
• Slow GDP Growth,
• High levels of poverty, and
• Emergence of a rentier state - a country whose most of the wealth comes from foreign income from either sales of natural resource or foreign aid.

A common study of the resource curse is the underdevelopment in countries rich in petroleum and minerals. Nigeria, Venezuela, South Africa, DRC and most resource-rich countries in Africa are prime examples of nations whose development is not at par with their resource wealth.

It is argued that rentier countries do not care to develop their institutions. Wealth (foreign) flows in whether institutions are working or not. This is also one of the greatest argument against foreign aid.

Are all Resource-Rich Coutries Resource-Cursed?

There are resource-rich countries that have been able to avoid the resource curse. For example, several Gulf States have used oil revenue to develop their countries. The UAE has used its wealth to build a society where citizens enjoys a high quality of living, and recently, to buy footballers.

Netherlands turned its new large oil reserve in the North Sea into a boon, going as far as to make meaningful contribution to literature with a theory called the Dutch disease. Other resource-rich countries such as Botswana, Canada, Australia, and the US have seen economic development at par with their natural wealth.

Researchers and observers, therefore, agree that the resource curse is about management. This brings us to the question: Why do some countries manage their resources excellently, while others seem cursed? A question for another day, perhaps.

The Tricky Topic of Kenya

Kenya is not rich in petroleum and minerals.

However, its exports are primary agricultural goods – flowers, tea, coffee, avocados among others. Kenya’s export low value undifferentiated goods that are subject to the whims of perfect competition. Oncce in a while, Kenya gets the same character development I get from brokers, but on a country-level scale.

Given the low value of its exports, Kenya must collect taxes to support development and government expenditure. Hence, Kenya’s institutions are comparatively better and the country seems not to be plagued by a resource curse. Or at least, the inconsistent GDP growth rates, high poverty, and high levels of wealth inequality are not tied to a resource curse.

I beg to differ.

Is Sunshine a Boon or a Curse

Researchers do not agree whether sunshine can be classified as part of the resource curse studies.

I, however, do think it is a curse.

A key reason why resource-rich countries often experience low economic growth is because of the variation in prices for these products.? For instance, while the crisis in Venezuela may have been as a result of decades of mismanagement (the curse of plenty), the situation took a turn for the worst with the plunge of fuel prices in 2016.

In the same way, Kenya’s sunshine is both a boon and a curse. We export sunshine in our agricultural produce. And when sunshine fails us, on either extremes, the whole country descends into a crisis.

The only way to turn a natural resource into a boon is through better management.

Fortunately, every Kenyan has access to sunshine.

At the very basic level, farmers, for example, can figure out how to have consistent income all through regardless of the level of sunshine. This can be, for example, through constructing water harvesting systems and greenhouse structures.

Someone did ask me, what if we can predict our weather into the future for at least 3 months, can we avoid this curse? That started an insightful conversation. In the end, we agreed that a combination of long-term buffers against sunshine - saving water and constructing greenhouses - for example, with short-term weather prediction platforms, yields perfect results.

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Did you find the read insightful? In that cause, why have some countries avoided the resource curse? ?