Compliance with International food safety standards: Determinants, costs and implications of EurepGap standards on profitability among smallholders' horticultural exporters in Kenya

Abstract

Horticulture provides many developing countries with opportunities for export diversification, poverty alleviation and rural development. However, stringent public and private-sector food-safety standards, for example EurepGap (or GlobalGap), pose a challenge especially to small export farmers. Compliance with these standards entails costly investments that may be a burden to smallholder farmers, failure to which might lead to their exclusion in the global market. This book assesses awareness of the EurepGap standards among smallholder farmers and analyzes the critical factors influencing their compliance. It also identifies the costs of complying with these standards and their implications on profitability of smallholder French bean farming business using a case study of Kirinyaga District in Kenya. The study makes several policy recommendations that could be implemented to enhance and upscale compliance with the standards in the study area. Particularly it highlights the need for synergies between the public and private sector in ensuring compliance with the standards among the smallholder horticultural farmers who face the risk of elimination in the international market.