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Decoupling from international food safety standards: how small-scale indigenous farmers cope with conflicting institutions to ensure market participation

Author

Listed:
  • Geovana Mercado

    (Universidad Mayor de San Andrés
    University of Copenhagen)

  • Carsten Nico Hjortsø

    (University of Copenhagen)

  • Benson Honig

    (McMaster University)

Abstract

Although inclusion in formal value chains extends the prospect of improving the livelihoods of rural small-scale producers, such a step is often contingent on compliance with internationally-promoted food safety standards. Limited research has addressed the challenges this represents for small rural producers who, grounded in culturally-embedded food safety conceptions, face difficulties in complying. We address this gap here through a multiple case study involving four public school feeding programs that source meals from local rural providers in the Bolivian Altiplan. Institutional logics theory is used to describe public food safety regulations and to compare them to food safety conceptions in the local indigenous Aymara rural setting. We identify a value-based conflict that leads to non-compliance of formal food safety rules that jeopardizes the participation of small farmers in the market. These include: (1) partial adoption of formal rules; (2) selective adoption of convenient rules; and (3) ceremonial adoption to avoid compliance. Decoupling strategies allow local actors to largely disregard the formal food safety regulations while accommodating traditional cultural practices and continuing to access the market. However, these practices put the long-term sustainability of the farmers’ participation in potentially favorable opportunities at risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Geovana Mercado & Carsten Nico Hjortsø & Benson Honig, 2018. "Decoupling from international food safety standards: how small-scale indigenous farmers cope with conflicting institutions to ensure market participation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(3), pages 651-669, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:35:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10460-018-9860-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-018-9860-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Mercado, Geovana & Nico Hjortsø, Carsten, 2023. "Explaining the development policy implementation gap: A case of a failed food sovereignty policy in Bolivia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    2. Ana Cristina O. Siqueira & Benson Honig & Sandra Mariano & Joysi Moraes, 2020. "A Commons Strategy for Promoting Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: Implications for Community Currencies, Cryptocurrencies, and Value Exchange," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(4), pages 711-726, November.
    3. Gumataw Kifle Abebe, 2020. "Effects of institutional pressures on the governance of food safety in emerging food supply chains: a case of Lebanese food processors," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(4), pages 1125-1138, December.
    4. Patrick Baur, 2020. "When farmers are pulled in too many directions: comparing institutional drivers of food safety and environmental sustainability in California agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(4), pages 1175-1194, December.
    5. Abedullah & Shahzad Kouser, 2019. "Evaluating the Factors Determining Pesticide Residues in Vegetables: A Case Study of Lemons Market in Pakistan," PIDE-Working Papers 2019:167, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.

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