New from IDS: Private Standards, Small Farmers and Donor Policy: EUREPGAP in Kenya

by John Humphrey

IDS Working Papers - 308, 2008

This report focuses on the challenges and on the interactions between state and private sector involved in meeting them. It focuses particularly on EUREPGAP in Kenya. The introduction of the EUREPGAP private voluntary standard for export horticulture was particularly important for Kenya.

Horticultural exports to Europe have been a major contributor to the growth of the rural economy in Kenya since the 1980s, but EUREPGAP created major new challenges, particularly for smallholder horticulture. As a pre-farmgate, process standard, it required substantial changes in farming methods and greatly increased control over farming practices. These concerns increased because of the January 2005 deadline for EUREPGAP compliance, leading to a flurry of initiatives to support small farmer compliance with the new standard. This case study focuses on these initiatives, highlighting both the profound ways in which EUREPGAP affects small farmers and the extent to which these initiatives were based on a good understanding of both the challenges created and the role of the public sector in meeting them.

Available for download at http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/bookshop/wp/wp308.pdf