Food production standards and farm worker welfare in Kenya.

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the effect of private food production standards on the welfare of farm workers in Kenya. The chapter is divided into several sections. The section, Conceptual Framework and Methodology, describes the application of the Sen?s functionings approach in the context of production standards in horticulture. The section Survey Design and Data describes the design of the survey and the process of data collection. An overview of the collected data is given in section Empirical Models and Descriptive results. The descriptive results are followed by the results of the econometric model and a discussion. The chapter concludes with suggestions for policy design regarding the implementation of private food production standards.

Private Standards, Trade and Poverty: GlobalGAP and Horticultural Employment in Senegal

“…Blunch and Castro (2005) show that International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification increases workers’ training in textile, garment and food industries in five developing countries. Ehlert et al (2011) find that workers at farms in Kenya that are certified by GlobalGAP, which is the most important private standard in African horticulture, are better trained, but find no significant difference in workers’ incomes or health.…”

“…3 3 In Kenya, the number and intensity of training sessions is found to be higher at GlobalGAP farms (Ehlert et al, 2011), and training of farmers and workers is found to account for an important part of the costs of GlobalGAP certification (Graffham et al, 2007). Our interviews with Senegalese companies revealed that training of workers (with respect to the application of chemicals, record‐keeping, safety and hygiene) is costly, especially given low literacy levels and the scarcity of qualified labour to organise training. …”

The potential for the participation of Nigeria in global horticulture value chains

“…GlobalGAP certification is about good agricultural practices and it allows suppliers of horticultural products (farmers) to undergo quality training where new methods of planting, harvesting and so on are taught to improve agricultural productivity (Ehlert et al, 2011). In this way, good agricultural practices are applied throughout the food production process (ITC, 2011).…”

“…Adequate knowledge of global horticulture supply chains and stringent adherence to requirements have a significant impact on export performance. An awareness of good agricultural practices (GlobalGAP) (Ehlert et al, 2011) is one of the several standards to comply with. According to the findings, suppliers are ignorant of these standards and have not been complying with export regulations.…”

“…The findings show that since farmers supplying international markets engaged in a subsistence rather than commercial farming, it is difficult to satisfy international demand with their low output. Moreover, good agricultural practices are lacking and this greatly hinders participation in the global trade of horticultural products because GlobalGAP requires adequate investment in farm resources in order to enhance pest control and traceability (Ehlert et al, 2011).…”