Responsive Regulation and Its Implications for Smallholder Participation in the Kenyan Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Export Value Chain

Fredrick Ajwang ()
Additional contact information
Fredrick Ajwang: School of Politics and International Relations

The European Journal of Development Research, 2020, vol. 32, issue 4, No 20, 1288-1311

Abstract: Abstract Previous studies of the African fresh fruit and vegetable (FFV) export value chain have shown that smallholder farmers have faced numerous regulatory challenges in complying with stringent food safety protocols, inevitably leading to their exit from the value chain. This paper considers the role of responsive regulation in ensuring that smallholders stay in this value chain. Motivational posture regulatory theory is applied to examine how actors in the Kenyan FFV export value chain are increasingly tuning their regulatory needs to each other in order to overcome the historical compliance problems. Smallholders are shown not to be passive in the regulatory process as is often thought, but to have the agency to influence the regulatory process, which if responsive to their legitimate concerns, increases their chances of staying in the value chain. The paper concludes by arguing for a shift towards responsive regulation in the value chain because of its broader benefits including cost reductions and ensuring that smallholders remain in the value chain.

Keywords: Smallholder farmers; Responsive regulation; Agency; Motivational posture; Compliance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41287-019-00253-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:32:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1057_s41287-019-00253-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/41287/PS2

DOI: 10.1057/s41287-019-00253-z

Access Statistics for this article

The European Journal of Development Research is currently edited by Spencer Henson and Natalia Lorenzoni

More articles in The European Journal of Development Research from Palgrave Macmillan, European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().