POVERTY IN THE FACE OF GLOBAL-GAP STANDARDS: THE CASE OF SMALLHOLDER FRENCH BEANS FARMERS IN KIRINYAGA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract The majority of smallholder French bean farmers in Kenya produce for the export market intending to alleviate household poverty. Export markets are seen as lucrative and therefore able to improve household income and consequently reduce household poverty. However, export markets require compliance with Global-GAP standards. Compliance and certification processes of these standards are costly and thus raise a concern about their effectiveness in addressing household poverty. Currently, studies to determine the link between compliance with Global-GAP standards and French bean farmers' poverty status are limited. Using data from 492 randomly selected Global-GAP-certified and non-certified French bean farmers and Foster-Greer-Thorbecke's (2010) measures of poverty, the study determined the impact of Global-GAP certification on French bean farmers' poverty status. Results show that the majority of the certified French bean farmers (42.7 percent) were poor relative to non-certified (29.9 percent). Poverty depth and severity were also high among certified farmers at 29 percent and 25.2 percent respectively. The results suggest that income earned from Global-GAP certification was not sufficient to move French bean farmers out of poverty. It also suggests that, since compliance and certification processes are costly, there is a high likelihood that the processes contributed to the losses incurred by the Global-GAP-certified farmers. Government therefore should come up with policies that are geared towards lowering costs related to Global-GAP compliance and certification processes. This will in turn increase household income and thus household poverty reduction. Keywords: French beans farmers, Global-GAP Standards; Household poverty