TY - JOUR

T1 - Fairtrade certification and livelihood impacts on small-scale coffee producers in a tribal community of India

AU - Jena, Pradyot Ranjan

AU - Grote, Ulrike

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2017. Oxford University Press on behalf of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2017/3

Y1 - 2017/3

N2 - Can Fairtrade certification improve farmers' livelihoods in small-scale coffee farming tribal communities in India? Has Fairtrade contributed to capacitybuilding among the farmers? To answer these questions, household data of 256 coffee farmers from a tribal coffee-producing community in southern India was collected in 2010. Using the propensity score matching technique, the empirical findings show that Fairtrade certification has a positive impact on farmers' income. However, the incidence of poverty in the community is very high, with 84% of the certified farmers being extremely poor. Some improvement in the livelihoods of certified farmers has occurred from higher and assured farm gate prices, regular collection of coffee from the village centers that reduces travel costs, and from the social Fairtrade premium. But while the benefits are modest and the process is slow, challenges remain in terms of improving the effectiveness and management of the cooperative system, as well as raising the awareness of farmers about Fairtrade certification. There is a need to strengthen the positive impacts created by Fairtrade certification by collaboration between the cooperative and local government to enhance the technical, financial and human capacities of the coffee cooperative members.

AB - Can Fairtrade certification improve farmers' livelihoods in small-scale coffee farming tribal communities in India? Has Fairtrade contributed to capacitybuilding among the farmers? To answer these questions, household data of 256 coffee farmers from a tribal coffee-producing community in southern India was collected in 2010. Using the propensity score matching technique, the empirical findings show that Fairtrade certification has a positive impact on farmers' income. However, the incidence of poverty in the community is very high, with 84% of the certified farmers being extremely poor. Some improvement in the livelihoods of certified farmers has occurred from higher and assured farm gate prices, regular collection of coffee from the village centers that reduces travel costs, and from the social Fairtrade premium. But while the benefits are modest and the process is slow, challenges remain in terms of improving the effectiveness and management of the cooperative system, as well as raising the awareness of farmers about Fairtrade certification. There is a need to strengthen the positive impacts created by Fairtrade certification by collaboration between the cooperative and local government to enhance the technical, financial and human capacities of the coffee cooperative members.

KW - Cooperative

KW - Fairtrade coffee

KW - India

KW - Poverty

KW - Propensity score matching

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85018985718&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/aepp/ppw006

DO - 10.1093/aepp/ppw006

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85018985718

VL - 39

SP - 87

EP - 110

JO - Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy

JF - Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy

SN - 2040-5790

IS - 1

ER -