Fair trade impact studies

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Several independent studies have measured the impact of fair trade on disadvantaged farmers and workers.

Contents

[edit] Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability and Survival

Michigan State University assistant professor Daniel Jaffee conducted a four year study of the impact of fair trade on Michiza cooperative coffee producers, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Jaffee's findings, published in the 2007 book "Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability, and Survival", provide a nuanced view of fair trade: "Fair trade's higher prices increase gross household income - although, because most fair trade coffee is also certified organic, producers have higher costs of production as well. Participation in fair trade reduces households' debt and enhances their economic options, affording them the possibility of better feeding and educating their children. Fair trade affords peasant farmers partial protection from some of the worst aspects of commodity crises and in many cases allows them the breathing room needed to engage in more sustainable agricultural practices. Furthermore, the extra capital from fair trade can generate important economic ripple effects within communities, providing additional employment even for nonparticipating families. However, fair trade is not a panacea, and it does not bring the majority of participants out of poverty. (...) Demand for fair trade products must increase dramatically in order to augment the economic benefits for such small farmer families and allow the system to include many more producers of coffee and other commodities around the world."[1]

[edit] The Impact of Fair Trade on Producers and their Organizations: A Case Study with Coocafe in Costa Rica

In 2002, Loraine Ronchi of the Poverty Research Unit at the University of Sussex studied the impact of fair trade on the Coocafe cooperative in Costa Rica. Ronchi found that fair trade strengthened producer organizations and concluded that "in light of the coffee crisis of the early 1990s, fair trade can be said to have accomplished its goal of improving the returns to small producers and positively affecting their quality of life and the health of the organisations that represent them locally, nationally and beyond".[2]

[edit] One Cup at a time: Poverty Alleviation and Fair Trade coffee in Latin America

In 2003, the Fair Trade Research Group at Colorado State University conducted seven case studies of Latin American Fairtrade coffee producers (UCIRI, CEPCO, Majomut, Las Colinas & El Sincuyo La Selva, Tzotzilotic and La Voz) and concluded that Fair Trade has "in a short time greatly improved the well-being of small-scale coffee farmers and their families"[3] The various case studies most notably found that producers had under Fair Trade greater access to credit and external development funding.[4] The studies also found that Fair Trade producers had, compared to conventional coffee producers, greater access to training and enhanced ability to improve the quality of their coffee.[5]. Families of Fair Trade producers were also said to be more stable and children had better access to education than in families growing conventional coffee.[6]

[edit] Étude d'impact du commerce équitable sur les organisations et familles paysannes et leurs territoires dans la filière café des Yungas de Bolivie

A case study of Bolivian coffee Fair Trade producers published by Nicolas Eberhart for French NGO Agronomes et Vétérinaires sans frontières in 2005 concluded that Fair Trade certification has had in the Yungas a positive impact on local coffee prices, thus economically benefiting all coffee producers (Fairtrade certified or not). Fair Trade was also said to have strengthened producer organizations and increased their political influence.[7]

[edit] Confronting the Coffee Crisis: Can Fair Trade, Organic, and Specialty Coffees Reduce Small-Scale Farmer Vulnerability in Northern Nicaragua?

A comparative case study conducted with small-scale coffee farmer cooperatives selling into both conventional and certified organic / Fair Trade markets in northern Nicaragua demonstrated that sales to Fair Trade can reduce small-scale farmers' livelihood vulnerability when coffee commodity prices were low (Bacon, 2005). Changing governance structures, corporate concentration, oversupply, interchangeable commodity grade beans, and low farm gate prices characterized the crisis in conventional coffee markets. In contrast, certified Fair Trade and organic are two types of specialty coffee trade and production that are potentially useful for wider sustainable community development processes. A participatory action research team surveyed 228 farmers to measure the impact of sales to organic and Fair Trade markets. The results suggest that participation in organic and Fair Trade networks reduces farmers’ livelihood vulnerability and can contribute to bottom-up empowerment processes. However, significant challenges remain in efforts to increase positive impacts and maintain fair trade's core values as Fair Trade enters the mainstream. [8]

[edit] Fair Trade on marginalised producers: an impact analysis on Kenyan farmers

An econometric analysis conducted by Becchetti and Costantino (2006) verified the impact of Fair Trade affiliation on monetary and non monetary measures of well-being on a sample of Kenyan farmers. The researchers compared a control sample group of farmers to Fair trade certified groups and Meru herbs farmers. Becchetti and Costantino documented the following: during the same period, Fair trade farmers were more successful in diversifying their production, experienced a significant drop in child mortality, improvements in terms of monthly household food consumption, greater satisfaction in terms of prices obtained for their crop, living conditions etc. Methodological problems such as the relative contribution of Fair Trade and Meru herbs farmers, control sample bias, Fair trade and Meru Herb selection biases are discussed and addressed showing that ex ante selection of Meru members contributes to explain some but not all the results of the study. [9]

[edit] Assessing the Potential of Fair Trade for Poverty Reduction and Conflict Prevention: A Case Study of Bolivian Coffee Producers

In a study commissioned by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Sandra Imhof and Andrew Lee (2007) assessed the potential of Fair Trade to reduce poverty and prevent conflicts. Based on an interdisciplinary approach (economics, development studies and political science) and a case study in the Yungas region of Bolivia, they suggest four effects. Firstly, they found that Fair Trade, through its poverty-reducing impact, may have a positive influence on conflict prevention by contributing to a reverse of horizontal inequalities biased against indigenous people in Bolivia. Secondly, by providing competition at the level of the intermediaries, Fair Trade has the potential to reduce poverty amongst non-Fair Trade producers. Thirdly, by enabling capacity-building, Fair Trade has a poverty-reducing impact. Through regular training in relevant topics such as organic production, management and financial issues etc., producers have the opportunity to constantly acquire new skills, which in turn allow them to improve the quality of their coffee ("learning centre"). Fourthly, by having influenced trends in the non-Fair Trade market, Fair Trade may have indirectly reduced poverty. Nevertheless, both authors stress the need to test these hypotheses in different markets and conflict environments before making any policy prescriptions. [10]

[edit] Additional Impact Studies

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Fair trade
Topics
Fair trade • History of fair trade • Fairtrade certification • Fair trade and politics • Fair trade impact studies • Fair trade debate • Alternative trading organization • Trade justice • Trade Justice Movement • Sweatshops • Worldshop
Federations
Certification
Labeling Initiatives
Asociación del Sello de Productos de Comercio Justo • Comercio Justo México • Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand • Fairtrade Österreich • Fairtrade Mark Ireland • The Fairtrade Foundation • Max Havelaar Belgium • Association Max Havelaar France • Max Havelaar Danmark • Stichting Max Havelaar • Fairtrade Max Havelaar Norge • Max Havelaar-Stiftung Switzerland • Reilun kaupan edistämisyhdistys • Rättvisemärkt • TransFair Canada • TransFair Deutschland • TransFair Italia • TransFair Japan • TransFair-Minka Luxembourg • TransFair USA
Campaigns
Resources
Category:Fair trade • Fair trade media at Commons

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jaffee, Daniel (2007). Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability and Survival. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24959-2
  2. ^ Ronchi, L. (2002). The Impact of Fair Trade on Producers and their Organizations: A Case Study with Coocafe in Costa Rica. University of Sussex. p25-26.
  3. ^ Murray D., Raynolds L. & Taylor P. (2003). One Cup at a time: Poverty Alleviation and Fair Trade coffee in Latin America. Colorado State University, p28
  4. ^ Taylor, Pete Leigh (2002). Poverty Alleviation Through Participation in Fair Trade Coffee Networks, Colorado State University, p18.
  5. ^ Murray D., Raynolds L. & Taylor P. (2003). One Cup at a time: Poverty Alleviation and Fair Trade coffee in Latin America. Colorado State University, p8
  6. ^ Murray D., Raynolds L. & Taylor P. (2003). One Cup at a time: Poverty Alleviation and Fair Trade coffee in Latin America. Colorado State University, p10-11
  7. ^ Eberhart, N. (2005). Synthèse de l'étude d'impact du commerce équitable sur les organisations et familles paysannes et leurs territoires dans la filière café des Yungas de Bolivie. Agronomes et Vétérinaires sans frontières, p29.
  8. ^ Bacon, C. 2005. Confronting the Coffee Crisis: Can Fair Trade, Organic, and Specialty Coffees Reduce Small-Scale Farmer Vulnerability in Northern Nicaragua? World Development Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 497–511
  9. ^ L. Becchetti,, M. Costantino (2006). Fair Trade on marginalised producers: an impact analysis on Kenyan farmers, working paper CEIS 220 and working paper ECINEQ2006
  10. ^ Imhof, Sandra and Andrew Lee (2007). Assessing the Potential of Fair Trade for Poverty Reduction and Conflict Prevention: A Case Study of Bolivian Coffee Producers