Abstract
Kiah Smith argues that multiple understandings or values of ‘food security’ exist for women smallholder farmers in Kenya, in parallel to those currently embedded in global ethical sourcing standards. She suggests a better understanding of the connection between local livelihoods and global structures of production, trade and consumption is needed if ethical sourcing is to address equity, social justice and poverty eradication in the future.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
For the smallholders in this case study, three main ethical sourcing codes constitute the broader regulatory context shaping their food production, trade and consumption: (a) Fair trade; (b) The ETI; and (c) GlobalGAP. These have all been discussed in depth elsewhere; see Smith (2011) for full details.
For example, the recent UNEP Green Economy report (UNEP, 2011: 38) aims to ‘inspire policymakers to support increased green investment and guidance on how to enable this transformation, which aims to enhance food security, reduce poverty, improve nutrition and health, create rural jobs, and reduce pressure on the environment, including reducing GHG emissions’.
Definitions of ‘smallholders’ vary immensely in the literature and across horticultural industries. In this study, farmers owned between ½ and 5 acres, and were viewed as ‘smallholders’ by their export company employers.
The discussion of food security as one component in food systems is based on a ‘sustainable livelihoods’ approach, which also identifies well-being, environmental sustainability and income security as core components of ‘livelihoods’. These aspects are not discussed in this article, even though they are interrelated with food security. See Smith (2011) for the full study.
A large body of literature explores the emergence, scope, content and impacts of ethical trade standards and their associated critiques, particularly for women and smallholders in the South, and will not be repeated here. Please see Barrientos (2000); and Barrientos and Dolan (2006) for a good overview.
References
Altieri, Miguel A. (2009) ‘Agroecology, Small Farms and Food Sovereignty’, Monthly Review 61 (3): 102–113.
Barrientos, Stephanie (2000) ‘Globalization and Ethical Trade: Assessing the implications for development’, Journal of International Development 12 (4): 559–570.
Barrientos, Stephanie and Catherine S. Dolan (2006) ‘Transformations of Global Food: Opportunities and challenges for fair and ethical trade’, in Stephanie Barrientos and Catherine S. Dolan (eds.) Ethical Sourcing in the Global Food System, pp 1–34, London: Earthscan.
Barrientos, Stephanie, Catherine S. Dolan and Anne Tallontire (2001) ‘Gender and Ethical Trade: A mapping of the issues in African horticulture’, Working paper on gender in ethical trade in Kenya, South Africa and Zambia, London: Department for International Development.
Blowfield, Michael (1999) ‘Ethical Trade: A review of developments and issues’, Third World Quarterly 20 (4): 753–770.
Blowfield, Michael and Catherine S. Dolan (2008) ‘Stewards of Virtue? The Ethical Dilemma of CSR in African Agriculture’, Development and Change 39 (1): 1–23.
Blowfield, Michael and Keith Jones (1999) ‘Ethical Trade and Agricultural Standards – Getting People to Talk’, Paper presented at the conference ‘Market, rights and equity: Rethinking food and agriculture standards in a shrinking world’; 31 October–3 November, East Lansing: Michigan State University.
CIVICUS (2011) ‘CIVICUS World Assembly Workshop Report, “Beyond 20105: Shaping the post-MDG agenda”, Online. Available at, http://civicusassembly.org/themes_pdf/dev/Beyond2015ShapingThePostMDG.pdf, accessed 10 October 2011.
Dolan, Catherine S. (2005a) ‘Fields of Obligation: Rooting ethical sourcing in Kenyan horticulture’, Journal of Consumer Culture 5 (3): 365–389.
Dolan, Catherine S. (2005b) ‘Benevolent Intent? The Development Encounter in Kenya's Horticulture Industry’, Journal of Asian and African Studies 40 (6): 411–437.
Dolan, Catherine S. (2008) ‘Arbitrating Risk Through Moral Values: The case of Kenyan fair trade’, Economic Anthropology 28: 271–298.
Dolan, Catherine S. (2010) ‘Virtual Moralities: The mainstreaming of Fairtrade in Kenyan tea fields’, Geoforum 41 (1): 33–43.
Ethical Trading Initiative (2005) ETI Smallholder Guidelines: Recommendations for working with smallholders, London: Ethical Trading Initiative.
FAOSTAT (2010) ‘Export Commodities by Country: Top exports Kenya 2008’, online, http://faostat.org/desktopdefault.aspx?pageid=342&land=en&country=114, accessed 8 December 2010.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2009) State of Food Insecurity in the World 2009, Rome: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
Fox, Tom and Bill Vorley (2006) ‘Small Producers: Constraints and challenges in the global food system’, in Stephanie Barrientos and Catherine S. Dolan (eds.) Ethical Sourcing in the Global Food System, pp 163–178, London: Earthscan.
Friends of the Earth International (2011) Women and Food Sovereignty: Voices of rural women of the South, Amsterdam: Friends of the Earth.
Hale, Angela (1996) ‘The Deregulated Global Economy: Women workers and strategies of resistance’, Gender and Development 4 (3): 8–15.
Hutchens, Anna (2010) ‘Empowering Women Through Fair Trade? Lessons from Asia’, Third World Quarterly 31 (3): 449–467.
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Natural Resources Institute (NRI) (2008) Costs and Benefits of EurepGAP Compliance for African Smallholders: A synthesis of surveys in three countries; Number 13, London and Chatham, UK: IIED and NRI.
Lang, Tim (2010) ‘From “Value-for-Money” to “Values-for-Money”? Ethical Food and Policy in Europe’, Environment and Planning A 42 (8): 1814–1832.
McMichael, Philip (2008) ‘The Peasant as “Canary”? Not Too Early Warnings of Global Catastrophe’, Development 51 (4): 504–511.
Natural Resources Institute (NRI) (2006) ‘Mapping Different Supply Chains of Fresh Produce Exports from Africa to the UK’, Fresh Insights No. 7, Chatham, UK: Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich. Online, http://www.agrifoodstandards.net, accessed 11 December 2008.
Neilson, Jeff and Bill Pritchard (2009) Value Chain Struggles: Institutions and governance in the plantation districts of South India, Malden, Oxford, West Sussex: Blackwell.
Opondo, Mary Magdalene (2002) Trade Policy in the Cut Flower Industry in Kenya, Nairobi: Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Nairobi.
Raynolds, Laura T., Douglas L. Murray and John Wilkinson (eds.) (2007) Fair Trade: The challenges of transforming globalization, London and New York: Routledge.
Razavi, Shahra (2002) Shifting Burdens: Gender and agrarian change under neoliberalism, Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.
Smith, Kiah (2011) ‘Contesting Ethicality: Ethical trade, gender and sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farmers in Kenya’, PhD thesis, University of Queensland: Australia.
UNEP (2011) ‘Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to sustainable development and poverty eradication’, online, http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/documents/ger/2.0_Agriculture.pdf, accessed 5 December 2011.
Additional information
Examines food security for women smallholder farmers in Kenyan fair and ethical trade
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Smith, K. Gender and Food Security in a Fair, Green Economy?. Development 55, 81–89 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2011.118
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2011.118