Fair Trade and Development? A Socio-Economic Case Study of Two Coffee Cooperatives in Mexico (original) (raw)
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Relaciones Internacionales, 2019
Con respecto de sus fundamentos, las iniciativas del comercio justo experimentaron una metamorfosis entre la década de 1940 y finales de la década de 1980. A través de las escuelas de pensamiento icónicas de la dependencia y del "desarrollo del subdesarrollo", la evolución de la teoría del desarrollo ha formado los principios y supuestos del comercio justo. A pesar de que estas escuelas de pensamiento cuestionan los supuestos de los mercados neoliberales, su intención de cambiar el sistema de comercio mundial y su intercambio desigual fue el resultado de una aplicación limitada de las relaciones sociales de producción en lugar de las relaciones económicas de intercambio. Estos factores, además del papel declinante del Estado en el desarrollo a finales de la década de 1980, el colapso de la Unión Soviética, y la contrarrevolución neoliberal a inicios de la década de 1990, llevaron al movimiento del comercio justo a redireccionar su enfoque. El resurgimiento de las fuerzas...
2020
The objective of the article was to analyze the trajectory of the fairtrade niche as opposed to the food production and marketing regime. For this purpose, we worked in parallel on two levels, at the macro level with the analysis of the state of the art of fair trade as a niche in relation to the agrifood regime, and at the micro level, we applied open interviews to managers, youth and women in 10 Mexican fair trade coffee organizations, including pioneers and recent ones. The current situation and the key elements of the niche that hinder further changes in the regime were identified by taking up the analogy of the waves in the development of coffee consumption. From the first to the third wave, the niche achieved an adequate quality of learning and inclusion of actors that strengthened it; however, in the fourth wave, the niche incorporated actors from the regime such as supermarkets and transnational companies to increase the volume of sales, but without achieving that these actors generated second order learning, nor shared the expectations of the founders of the niche and thus did not commit to achieving changes in the regime.
Fair-trade coffee in Nicaragua and Tanzania: a comparison
Development in practice, 2006
Fair-trade activities in the South have tended to be studied in relation to the internal aims of the fair-trade organisations themselves. This article argues that it is also critical to consider the wider fair-trade 'arena' or set of interactions. The authors focus on Tanzania and Nicaragua and study the role of four key actors-small-scale producers, co-operatives, development partners, and public authorities. Using comparative data from field studies conducted in 2002 -2003, the article identifies key national and international issues affecting local producers. Illustrating how fair trade evolves differently according to context, the article examines how the co-operative movement in Nicaragua has been strengthened by fair-trade production, in contrast to the situation in Tanzania. It concludes by discussing some of the challenges faced by fair trade, including how to reconcile the demands of the market with building solidarity.
2002
Fair Trade attempts to address the poverty issues of small Southern producers through the payment of a 'fair price' for their goods and the provision of support services for producer organisations. Although Fair Trade is overwhelmingly identified with the 'fair price' paid by participating importers and buyers, sketching the possible avenues of impact reveal that many of the effects of Fair Trade on the quality of life of producers are felt through the organisational development supported by Fair Trade organisations. This study examines the impact of 10 years of Fair Trade in coffee in Costa Rica and reveals the importance of organisational development support for the stakeholders of the nine Costa Rican coffee co-operatives.
THE IMPACT OF FAIR TRADE ON PRODUCERS AND THEIR ORGANISATIONS
Fair Trade attempts to address the poverty issues of small Southern producers through the payment of a 'fair price' for their goods and the provision of support services for producer organisations. Although Fair Trade is overwhelmingly identified with the 'fair price' paid by participating importers and buyers, sketching the possible avenues of impact reveal that many of the effects of Fair Trade on the quality of life of producers are felt through the organisational development supported by Fair Trade organisations. This study examines the impact of 10 years of Fair Trade in coffee in Costa Rica and reveals the importance of organisational development support for the stakeholders of the nine Costa Rican coffee co-operatives.
Journal of business ethics, 2010
This article analyzes the distribution of benefits from Fair Trade between producing and consuming countries. Fair Trade and conventional coffee production and trade were examined in Nicaragua in 2005-2006 and 2008. Consumption of the respective coffees was assessed in Finland in 2006-2009. The results indicate that consumers paid considerably more for Fair Trade-certified coffee than for the other alternatives available. Although Fair Trade provided price premiums to producer organizations, a larger share of the retail prices remained in the consuming country relative to conventional coffee trade. Paradoxically, along with the certified farmers and cooperatives, Fair Trade empowers roasters and retailers.
Not Fair Enough: Historic and Institutional Barriers to Fair Trade Coffee in El Salvador
2011
Why do relatively few Salvadoran farmers sell to Fair Trade certified markets? This article examines the proximate and root causes that limit the participation of coffee smallholders in Fair Trade markets. Drawing upon a historical analysis of rural coffee society in El Salvador as well as Fair Trade value chains and the empirical evidence from two case studies, one in El Salvador's Eastern mountains, and the second in the Western coffee growing region, this study illustrates the practical obstacles to participation in Fair Trade. It also shows how farmers are developing alternative marketing solutions such as direct trade and selling organic coffee domestically. The findings suggest that smallholders currently face at least five barriers to accessing Fair Trade, including: certification costs, economies of scale to cover coffee exports operations, stringent quality requirements and altitude constraints. However, the root causes of smallholder coffee farmers' limited access to Fair Trade are rooted in decades of state-based policies and politics that have undermined rural civil society, discouraged education, perpetuated uneven access to land and debt forgiveness, and repressed the development of dynamic cooperative unions with capacity to export smallholder coffee.
Reframing Çrisis' in fair Trade Coffee Production: Fraser,Fisher, Arce
A focus on crisis provides a methodological window to understand how agrarian change shapes producer engagement in fair trade. This orientation challenges a separation between the market and development, situating fair trade within global processes that incorporate agrarian histories of social change and conflict. Reframing crisis as a condition of agrarian life, rather than emphasizing its cyclical manifestation within the global economy, reveals how market-driven development encompasses the material conditions of peoples' existence in ambiguous and contradictory ways. Drawing on the case of coffee production in Nicaragua, experiences of crisis demonstrate that greater attention needs to be paid to the socioeconomic and political dimensions of development within regional commodity assemblages to address entrenched power relations and unequal access to land and resources. This questions moral certainties when examining the paradox of working in and against the market, and suggests that a better understanding of specific trajectories of development could improve fair trade's objective of enhancing producer livelihoods. We are grateful to Brigitte Cerfontaine, Sean Hawkey, Ena Salinas and Fatima Ismael Espinoza for time given generously to enable us to develop insight into experiences of fair trade in Nicaragua; also to five anonymous reviewers for their critical contributions in the development of this paper. All views expressed are those of the authors, who remain responsible for any shortcomings.
VDM, 2010
This book is intended for all readers interested in a critical assessment of fair trade. How much does fair trade contribute to development? Does consumer awareness make any difference at all? Or are supermarkets selling fair trade coffee just clean-washing their reputation in the fair trade business? These are some of the key questions examined in this book. I start by providing a short description of the coffee market and some of its major trends. I then turn to the origin and structure of the fair trade movement. The pricing scheme of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) is compared to those of other private labeling initiatives. The last part examines benefits generated for participants on the supply and demand side. Revenues accruing to coffee producers in the South and fair trade organizations in the Western world are estimated. Finally, an original empirical strategy is proposed to see whether consumer awareness is making any difference and/or if supermarkets are clean-washing their reputation in the fair trade business. Data from 13 European countries is used in two different econometric models (OLS and treatment regression model).