The Effect of GlobalGAP Certification on Horticulture Production in Kenya

抄録

Promoting sustainable production systems is one of the pillars of sustainable development. Rural development strategies, therefore, should enhance production systems that are sustainable for the future. In Kenya, horticulture exports are a state-induced development strategy meant to raise incomes, improve productivity, and eradicate poverty in rural areas. However, with the ongoing proliferation of regulatory standards and stiff competition, horticulture is becoming increasingly challenging for producers in developing countries. Phytosanitary standards have become a de facto requirement for participating in the lucrative market, intended to bridge the information asymmetry between buyers and producers and serve as an assurance of food safety and environmentally conscious production systems, thereby ensuring that more areas of production are certified. Consequently, buyers prefer producers certified by at least one of the internationally recognized schemes. Producers strive for certification, often certifying only a portion of their producing area to meet the standards, which can hinder the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices. This study aimed to assess the recent priorities for Kenyan horticulture in terms of more certified producers or more certified areas of production, what the trends are, and how these trends affect production. Using panel data obtained from GlobalGAP and FAOStat (2008 to 2020), the study found that the number of certified producers and the certified production area (ha) have both increased. The Pseudo-Poisson Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator shows that increasing the number of certified producers has a significant effect on exported volumes and total value, while the area under certified production for both covered and uncovered crops has no significant effect. This could imply that farmers are keen on maintaining the market requirements as opposed to increasing the certified area.