Small-scale producers who sign outgrower agreements have limited power in the supply chain, an issue that is explored in more detail in the livelihoods section of this report. However, small-scale producers are empowered by the fact that exporters rely on them to produce their supplies. This in itself gives farms ‘power’.
In a few places, small-scale producers have organised themselves into producer groups where a ‘hub farm’ collects supplies and delivers produce. However, the study found no evidence of more sophisticated activity, such as pooling purchasing costs or collective price negotiation with export farms.
Nevertheless, exporters said that they were keen to organise small-scale producers into groups so that communication could be more effective and planning at head office level could be more accurate. In some places, companies send their agronomists to talk to small-scale producer groups.295 Typically, they offer advice on practical production matters,
such as irrigation methods or ideal plant spacing. They also pass on local information about weather and crop disease outbreaks. Some even provide pesticide spraying as a service to growers to reduce the risk of MRL issues.296
Conclusions and recommendations
Supermarkets, importers, exporters, and growers should work together to implement the necessary changes to remove payment of low wages from the sphere of competitive advantage. No business should gain a cost advantage by underpaying small-scale producers or denying workers their human rights. There a number of ways to approach the elimination of this cost advantage, none of them mutually exclusive.
One approach to achieving this is to work through the existing channels of the Ethical Trading Initiative. The ETI programme approach is designed to build alliances among different stakeholders in specific supply chains. As poverty issues cannot be solved by one company or group of companies alone, the objective of these alliances is to build a shared understanding of the root causes of labour rights and small-scale producers’ issues in specific sectors and countries, and to enable collective action to address those issues for wide sector change. The ETI is working with companies, trade unions, and NGOs to build alliances in various agricultural supply chains. Companies can approach the ETI either to join existing programmes or to seek support on building such alliances in new supply chains, such as the one analysed in this report.
A second approach is that workers can be empowered through establishing the conditions in which they can bargain collectively. A shared vision by industry and government of a professional union movement would help ensure these conditions are created in ways which meet the needs of workers, businesses and the wider industry. The horticulture sector in Kenya does not at present have a good level of worker organisation, particularly in relation to women workers who form the majority of the workforce.
Stephanie Barrientos, a member of the independent advisory panel for the study, stated that ‘The ideal scenario is for unions to be empowered so that farms can have a mixture of effective unions and collective bargaining on site which would result in unions being able to monitor the day-to-day situation without need for external bodies such as Oxfam to have to monitor, which can only make occasional visits. They could also then monitor things like day-to-day changes in food prices.’297
• Support an environment in which small-scale farmers enhance their collective voice and bargaining power. • Set targets for the provision of technical support targeted at women farmers.
• Support an environment in which mature relations can develop between management and workers, such that workers’ representatives can negotiate wages and benefits through collective bargaining. Increase workers’ skills and champion talented women to take technical and management roles.
• Ensure training on employment rights is provided to workers and management.
A third approach is the implementation of business models which focus not on the cost advantage that can be gained through low wages, but instead on focusing on the workers as an asset. Through the empowerment of workers by multi-skilling, motivation and team working, value can be created for the suppliers and workers. Benefits for the supplier can include
• Increased quality; • Increased productivity;
• Decrease costs associated with employee turnover. The benefits for the workers can include
• A significant increase in wages;
• A fresh look at gender roles and their contribution to the business;
• A focus on working in teams, which create more control of workers over production processes; • Stable employment due to lower turnover and business growth.
As a part of this approach, it is important to clearly identify the social needs and improvements for workers so that they can be maintained as a focus of the effort.
10. The value chain:
health and
well-being
Workers and small-scale producers face considerable health risks, including potential exposure to harmful pesticides. Most large farms appear to comply with health and safety regulations set out by GlobalG.A.P. and other standards, but standards appear to be poorer among small-scale producers. Large farms also offer some form of primary healthcare services, but there is undoubtedly room for improvement. Worker migration has separated families, leading to increased risks of unplanned pregnancy and HIV and AIDS.