Adapting commercial practices and enhancing lives of smallholders and workers in Kenya

The project ‘Kenya Horticulture – A Fair Deal for Smallholder Farmers and Workers’ brought together Marks and Spencer (M&S), Flamingo Horticulture (formerly Finlays Horticulture), Traidcraft Exchange and the Kenya Human Rights Commission. This enabled the different levels of a traceable green bean supply chain to work in partnership towards better communication, improving commercial benefits for all, more secure supply and improved livelihoods. It aimed to improve the financial stability and well-being of smallholder farmers and workers involved in the Kenyan horticultural value chain, who produce fine green beans, and focused on a group of 300 smallholders and 3,000 workers. The project ran from 2013 to 2016. Some of the initiatives started by the project continue to evolve and many of the findings and the impacts of the project have been identified since 2016.