IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/iaae09/49928.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Food-safety Standards and Farmers Health: Evidence from Kenyan’s Export Vegetable Growers

Author

Listed:
  • Asfaw, Solomon
  • Mithofer, Dagmar
  • Waibel, Hermann

Abstract

Limited empirical evidence exists either to confirm or refute the hypotheses that food-safety standards confer a positive external effect on farmers adopting it. This article makes use of health indicators obtained from a random cross-section sample of 439 small-scale export farmers in Kenya to evaluate the impact of EU retailer food-safety standards on producers’ health. Results show average cost of pesticide-related health risks at about 165 KSh and 324 KSh per cropping season for GlobalGAP adopters and non-adopters export producers, respectively. These costs equal 86.4% of the mean household chemical expenditure per cropping season for non-adopters and 39.6% of those adopters. Using instrumental variable econometric techniques we demonstrate that pesticide ascribed incidence of acute illness symptoms and its associated cost of illness significantly decrease with adoption of standards. Ceteris paribus, farmer’s who adopt standards experience 70% lesser incidence of acute illness and spent about 50% less on restoring their health compared to non-adopters. Although standards can potentially prevent resource-poor smallholders from maintaining their position in the lucrative export markets, they can also result in positive changes in the health of those small-scale farmers who adopt it, as shown by these results. The implication is that if adopted at large-scale standards may reduce production externalities corroborating the view that it may serve as a catalyst to transform the farm production systems in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Asfaw, Solomon & Mithofer, Dagmar & Waibel, Hermann, 2009. "Food-safety Standards and Farmers Health: Evidence from Kenyan’s Export Vegetable Growers," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 49928, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae09:49928
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.49928
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/49928/files/IAAE-chinarev.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.49928?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. C. Dolan & J. Humphrey, 2000. "Governance and Trade in Fresh Vegetables: The Impact of UK Supermarkets on the African Horticulture Industry," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 147-176.
    2. Maureen L. Cropper, 1994. "Economic and Health Consequences of Pesticide Use in Developing Country Agriculture: Discussion," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(3), pages 605-607.
    3. Okello, Julius Juma & Swinton, Scott M., 2006. "The Effect of Developed-Country Pesticide Standards on Health and Pesticide-Induced Morbidity of Kenya's Green Bean Family Farmers," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25508, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:ner:leuven:urn:hdl:123456789/335950 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Liesbeth Colen & Miet Maertens & Johan Swinnen, 2012. "Private Standards, Trade and Poverty: GlobalGAP and Horticultural Employment in Senegal," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(8), pages 1073-1088, August.
    3. Nthambi, Mary & Mburu, John I. & Nyikal, Rose, 2013. "Smallholder Choice of Compliance Arrangements: The Case GlobalGAP adoption by French Bean Farmers in Kirinyaga, Mbooni and Buuri/Laikipia Districts," 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia 161471, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Solomon Asfaw & Dagmar Mithöfer & Hermann Waibel, 2010. "Agrifood supply chain, private‐sector standards, and farmers' health: evidence from Kenya," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(3‐4), pages 251-263, May.
    2. Roberta Rabellotti & Alessia Amighini, 2003. "The effect of globalisation on industrial districts in Italy: evidence from the footwear sector," ERSA conference papers ersa03p500, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Handschuch, Christina & Wollni, Meike & Villalobos, Pablo, 2013. "Adoption of food safety and quality standards among Chilean raspberry producers – Do smallholders benefit?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 64-73.
    4. Gómez, Miguel I. & Ricketts, Katie D., 2013. "Food value chain transformations in developing countries: Selected hypotheses on nutritional implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 139-150.
    5. Maertens, Miet & Verhofstadt, Ellen, 2013. "Horticultural exports, female wage employment and primary school enrolment: Theory and evidence from Senegal," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 118-131.
    6. repec:lic:licosd:21408 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Van Herck, Kristine, 2011. "Where have all the farmers gone? EU Accession and Structural Change in Bulgaria," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114829, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Maja Tampe, 2018. "Leveraging the Vertical: The Contested Dynamics of Sustainability Standards and Labour in Global Production Networks," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(1), pages 43-74, March.
    9. Lemeilleur, Sylvaine, 2013. "Smallholder Compliance with Private Standard Certification: The Case of GlobalGAP Adoption by Mango Producers in Peru," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 16(4), pages 1-22, November.
    10. Tran, Nhuong & Bailey, Conner & Wilson, Norbert & Phillips, Michael, 2013. "Governance of Global Value Chains in Response to Food Safety and Certification Standards: The Case of Shrimp from Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 325-336.
    11. Stephanie BARRIENTOS & Gary GEREFFI & Arianna ROSSI, 2011. "Economic and social upgrading in global production networks: A new paradigm for a changing world," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 150(3-4), pages 319-340, December.
    12. Neven, David & Katjiuongua, Hikuepi & Adjosoediro, Ingrid & Reardon, Thomas & Chuzu, Pia Nwanza & Tembo, Gelson & Ndiyoi, Mukelabai, 2006. "Food Sector Transformation and Standards in Zambia: Smallholder Farmer Participation and Growth in the Dairy Sector," Staff Paper Series 11701, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    13. Rob Kuijpers & Johan Swinnen, 2016. "Value Chains and Technology Transfer to Agriculture in Developing and Emerging Economies," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1403-1418.
    14. Dasgupta, Susmita & Meisner, Craig & Mamingi, Nlandu, 2005. "Pesticide traders'perception of health risks : evidence from Bangladesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3777, The World Bank.
    15. Mulu Gebreeyesus & Tetsushi Sonobe, 2012. "Global Value Chains and Market Formation Process in Emerging Export Activity: Evidence from Ethiopian Flower Industry," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 335-348, September.
    16. Sukhpal Singh, 2013. "Governance and upgrading in export grape global production networks in India," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series ctg-2013-33, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    17. Andrea González & Juan Carlos Hallak, 2022. "Relational links for insertion in non‐mass global value chains: Opportunities for middle‐income countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 653-672, May.
    18. Rich, Karl M. & Ross, R. Brent & Baker, A. Derek & Negassa, Asfaw, 2011. "Quantifying value chain analysis in the context of livestock systems in developing countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 214-222, April.
    19. Dela-Dem Doe Fiankor & Insa Flachsbarth & Amjad Masood & Bernhard Brümmer, 2020. "Does GlobalGAP certification promote agrifood exports? [Standards as barriers versus standards as catalysts: assessing the impact of HACCP implementation on US seafood imports]," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 47(1), pages 247-272.
    20. Matanda, Margaret Jekanyika & Freeman, Susan, 2009. "Effect of perceived environmental uncertainty on exporter-importer inter-organisational relationships and export performance improvement," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 89-107, February.
    21. Belton, Ben & Haque, Mohammad Mahfujul & Little, David C. & Sinh, Le Xuan, 2011. "Certifying catfish in Vietnam and Bangladesh: Who will make the grade and will it matter?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 289-299, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:iaae09:49928. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.