Date/Place of Birth
February 27th 1985, Dortmund

University degrees
Diplom Kulturwirtin (International Business and Cultural Studies), University of Passau 2009

Current Position
Junior Researcher, PhD candidate

Studies
October 2004 – April 2009: International Business and Cultural Studies (Main focus: Southeast Asia), University of Passau
Field work in Thailand related to the Diploma-thesis “Adaptation of smallholder farmers to the increasing demand for standards and their impacts - Case Study of the Horticulture Sector in Thailand” in cooperation with GTZ Thailand and Kasetsart University Kamphaengsaen, Thailand (2008)

Work Experience
Internship in the Agricultural Trade Programme of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) (2008)
Internship at the Goethe-Institut Thailand (2007)
Internship at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in the South-Asia Division (2007)

Topic of dissertation
The impact of food safety and quality standards on small-scale fruit and vegetable producers in Thailand: an analysis at the household and producer group levels

Background
Food safety and quality standards gain growing importance in developing countries. On the one hand, it is discussed that standards exclude certain classes of producers from supply chains and thus worsen inequality. On the other hand, standards might facilitate access to new markets, enhance product quality, add value and encourage new or enhanced forms of cooperation between producers and agribusinesses. The challenge to comply with standards is especially high for small-scale farmers in developing countries as they often lack access to credits, information and extension services and have only insufficient human capital and organizational skills to comply with standards. Besides the challenge to overcome barriers to standards adoption, there is anecdotal evidence that continued compliance with standards often represents a major challenge to small-scale farmers. After initial adoption, many small-scale farmers disadopt the standard in later years because they are unable to continuously meet the strict requirements and high costs associated with food safety standards. Given that sustainable effects on poverty reduction can only be achieved if small-scale farmers are able to comply with standards in the long run, identifying the factors that influence continued compliance is critical. The research focuses on the GLOBALGAP standard, a standard for good agricultural practices which is especially important concerning access to European markets.

Objective
The research project will empirically analyze the impacts of increasing food safety and quality standards on Thai small-scale farmers and farmer groups in the horticultural sector, and whether the access to standards is biased against smallholders.
The following research questions will be addressed:
1. What are the factors that influence the adoption and disadoption of GOBALGAP by small-scale farmers?
2. What are the impacts of the adoption of GLOBALGAP on farmers’ household income, food security and resource management?
Field research
Research is carried out within the GTZ project Food Safety in Fresh Fruit and Vegetables. The aim of the GTZ intervention is to improve the competitiveness of Thailand in the fresh fruit and vegetable sector and to increase the access of small commercial farmers to higher food safety, environmental and social standards, especially GLOBALGAP. Within the project 167 farmers in ten farmer groups are planned to be certified with GLOBALGAP Option 2 (group certification).
A farm household survey has taken place in Thailand from February to May 2010. In total, 140 GTZ project participants and 150 control group farmers have been interviewed. A second round of interviews is planned for 2011.

Funding institutions
fiat panis foundation, DAAD, GTZ Thailand, Georg-August University of Göttingen

Time horizon
July 2009 – June 2012