Final Report: Poverty impact of social and environmental voluntary standard systems in Kenyan tea
Abstract
This study was designed to compare certified and non-certified tea producer groups and estates in Kenya over a period of time (longitudinal study), using data collected during the baseline study (early 2010), light monitoring exercise (early 2011) and final field study (early 2012). A wide range of factors were examined which could affect tea smallholders and estate workers, including the voluntary standards certification requirements and external factors such as changes in the legislation, or commodity price fluctuations. The study examined the impact of voluntary standards on poverty, including impacts on individual workers and producers, producer organizations, and estates, as well as the wider impacts on markets, communities, policy, migration patterns and rural social change. The research project assessed both the positive and negative impacts of the standards. The ‘Poverty impact of social and environmental voluntary standard systems in Kenyan tea’ study was based on three field surveys with non-certified and Fairtrade (FT) or Rainforest Alliance (RA) certified Kenyan tea smallholder producer organisations and tea plantation estates.
Citation
Stathers, T.; Gathuthi, C. Final Report: Poverty impact of social and environmental voluntary standard systems in Kenyan tea. Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich, London, UK (2013) 210 pp.
Links