What is the impact of product certification on small-scale farmers' livelihoods? To what extent does the participation of Ethiopian small-scale coffee farmers in certified local cooperative structures improve their socioeconomic situation? To answer these questions, this article employs household data of 249 coffee farmers from six different cooperatives collected in the Jimma zone of Southwestern Ethiopia in 2009. Findings show that the certification of coffee cooperatives has in total a low impact on small-scale coffee producers' livelihoods mainly due to (1) low productivity, (2) insignificant price premium, and (3) poor access to credit and information from the cooperative. Differences in production and organizational capacities between the local cooperatives are mirrored in the extent of the certification benefits for the smallholders. "Good" cooperatives have reaped the benefits of certification, whereas "bad" ones did not fare well. In this regard the "cooperative effect" overlies the "certification effect." JEL classification: Q13, Q18, R11, R12

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Crop management innovations are often not discrete fixed stand-alone options-and their adoption may imply various combinations and adaptations. This potentially confounds their impact assessment. This article assesses the resource saving and productivity enhancing impacts of a crop management package revolving around minimum tillage in maize-based farming systems in northwest Ethiopia. An endogenous switching regression model was applied to plot-and household-level survey data collected from 290 rural households operating 590 maize plots during the 2012 production year. Controlling for variations in plot and household characteristics, the average effect of minimum tillage package (minimum tillage package) on maize productivity is 0.44 t/ha. Compared to conventional practice (CP), adoption of the MTP decreased the average male and female labor use in maize production by 14.4 and 8.2 person-days per ha, respectively. Similarly, MTP adoption decreased draft power use for land preparation by 13.2 pair of oxen-days per ha. Compared to CP, in general, there is a considerable short-run maize productivity gain and reduction in labor and draft power use under MTP.JEL classifications: C31, C34, Q12, Q55

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Geographical Indications have evolved in recent years to protect indigenous knowledge in the agrifood sector without hampering the ethos of free trade. Supporters regard them as useful tools for protecting national property rights and offering new export opportunities, while opponents consider them as barriers to trade. This article provides theoretical justifications for them, based on insights from the New Institutional Economics, and cites Darjeeling tea and Basmati rice as Indian examples highlighting some of their dynamic institutional aspects. The new legal framework for GIs is mainly based on the international level.