| Résumé |
Abstract : "Fairtrade is a non-profit certifying and labelling initiative with the goal of developing a market situation that is sustainable for farmers and the environment. The scheme was rolled out in Kenya for various crops; coffee, tea and flowers with vegetables being the latest entry in the year 2011. The intent of the program is to improve terms of trade, produce goods in a sustainable way as well as improve the lives and working conditions of farm workers and farmers in general. In the recent past there have been various studies looking at the success of the scheme as well as challenges and how better to improve the whole scheme. Finlay’s horticulture Kenya limited Outgrowers scheme in Meru-Central sub-county ventured into the Fairtrade program in the year 2011 and were the first group of the small-scale farmers to be certified under the Fairtrade banner in Kenya, the growers have since been selling their produce through the Fairtrade scheme with markets in UK, Germany and Netherlands. The study therefore was set to examine levels of change in farming practices, to investigate the impact in levels of production and to examine the social and economic impacts experienced because of the Fairtrade scheme. The researcher not only interviewed the farmers in the scheme but also farmers not involved in the scheme. There are two Small producer organisations in Meru central Sub county (Meruand 2 SPOs) were used in the study with a total number of farmers of 300.The researcher used both probability and non-probability sampling procedures to select the farmers and key informants respectively. The research findings show that the scheme has benefited the farmers in various ways; Farmers enjoy better returns for their produce, there is a guaranteed market for the produce as signed in the farming contracts issued, the farmer organisations are better run and due to this farmers are able to access credit facilities with ease, due to the strict Fairtrade standards requirement the farmer and worker health and safety concerns at farm level is better mitigated therefore lowering the exposure to safety hazards, farmers are trained on better agriculture practices and therefore produce quality at the farms improve and lastly farmer is trained on sustainable agriculture with an overall aim to conserve the environment. During the study it was noted that there also some challenges like limited and restricted amount of pesticides to use on Fairtrade crops, the scope for the crops traded for Fairtrade currently stand at three, the farmers felt that was limiting as they can grow many crops to trade under the Fairtrade logo. Due to the market dimensions’ farmers do not grow the Fairtrade crops throughout the year as during the European summer they have a reduced planting program with affects the overall annual farm profits. The study recommends that more farmers participate in the Fairtrade program as the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Most of the respondents’ felt that much had been reaped in terms of social, economic and environmental benefits to them and their community and really wanted the scheme to be expanded to ensure they were selling more crop varieties."
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CDTM de Paris
Centre de ressources sur le commerce équitable
