The Impact of Household Wealth on Adoption and Compliance to GLOBAL GAP Production Standards: Evidence from Smallholder farmers in Kenya

Castro N. Gichuki, Jiqin Han and Tim Njagi
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Castro N. Gichuki: College of Economics and Management, China Center for Food Security Studies, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Jiqin Han: College of Economics and Management, China Center for Food Security Studies, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Tim Njagi: Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, Research, Egerton University, Nairobi 20498-00200, Kenya
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Timothy Njagi Njeru

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: Horticultural production for the export market has been credited for rural community growth and employment in Sub-Saharan Africa. To make the agri-enterprises competitive and profitable, smallholder farmers are now required to invest in food safety and production standards such as GLOBAL Good Agricultural Practices (GLOBAL GAP). Most often, the inability to afford capital has affected compliance with food safety production standards. However, farmers can use household assets to finance the agri enterprise ventures. The purpose of the study is to explore the impact of household wealth on the adoption of food safety certification standards. The study used cross-sectional data collected from 479 smallholder farmers in Kenya. The findings reveal that 49% of the households are categorized as wealthy and 51% as poorly endowed. The empirical findings on the willingness to adopt GLOBAL GAP certification reveal that membership to GLOBAL GAP affiliated farmers groups significantly influence on wealthier farmers to attain GLOBAL GAP certification status. Farmers groups facilitate joint investments that reduce the cost of investing in GLOBAL GAP assets such as grading shed, protective gear, shower rooms, disposal pits, incinerators, hessian coolers, packaging crates, soil testing kits and establishing food traceability systems. In comparison to poor endowed farming households, the well-endowed farmers have a relatively significantly better wealth index, an indication that they can easily raise capital investments to finance GAP certification. Finally, we observe that selling beans to GAP certified buyers significantly enables farmers to comply with the expected certified production standards.

Keywords: food safety; household wealth index; smallholder farmers; GLOBAL GAP certification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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