Preventing Exclusion of Small-Scale-Farmers Through Private Standards in the Global Food Chain – A Research Agenda

Abstract

Compliance with private standards is rapidly becoming the decisive factor distinguishing inclusion and exclusion from the market for agricultural producers. If Africa would manage to increase its total exports by just 1%, this would make an impact surpassing the entire western development aid. Agriculture holds the largest potential to come closer to realising this ambition. For SFFs to receive a fair share or even to just survive in the globalising world, they need to have access to the local and global food markets. Research is needed that helps to counter the exclusionary effects of the private standards that rule these markets. In absence of effective (state) governmental control, the private character of standards shall be turned into a tool to achieve this objective. In this sense, research is needed that investigates the respective incentive structures in bargaining over standards and their enforcement.