| Horticulture provides many developing countries with opportunities for export diversification, poverty alleviation and rural development. However, stringent public and private-sector food-safety standards, for example EurepGap, pose a challenge especially to small export farmers. Compliance with these standards entails costly investments that may be a burden to smallholder farmers, failure to which might lead to their exclusion in the global market. A number of questions which require empirical research arise to confirm or refute these concerns. The study assesses awareness of the EurepGap standards among smallholder farmers and analyzes the critical factors influencing their compliance. It also identifies the costs of complying with these standards and... |
