Effects of Fairtrade on the livelihoods of poor rural workers

Meemken, Eva‐Marie; Sellare, Jorge; Kouamé, Christophe; Qaim, Matin

doi:10.1038/s41893-019-0311-5

Cited by 56 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…One way to improve external validity is to select contract schemes at random instead of purposely. Such approaches are more costly because they require preparation of lists of all contract schemes in a given country or region from which to sample, but they are not infeasible (43).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smallholder farmers and contract farming in developing countries

Meemken

Bellemare

2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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127

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Poverty is prevalent in the small-farm sector of many developing countries. A large literature suggests that contract farming—a preharvest agreement between farmers and buyers—can facilitate smallholder market participation, improve household welfare, and promote rural development. These findings have influenced the development policy debate, but the external validity of the extant evidence is limited. Available studies typically focus on a single contract scheme or on a small geographical area in one country. We generate evidence that is generalizable beyond a particular contract scheme, crop, or country, using nationally representative survey data from 6 countries. We focus on the implications of contract farming for household income and labor demand, finding that contract farmers obtain higher incomes than their counterparts without contracts only in some countries. Contract farmers in most countries exhibit increased demand for hired labor, which suggests that contract farming stimulates employment, yet we do not find evidence of spillover effects at the community level. Our results challenge the notion that contract farming unambiguously improves welfare. We discuss why our results may diverge from previous findings and propose research designs that yield greater internal and external validity. Implications for policy and research are relevant beyond contract farming.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smallholder farmers and contract farming in developing countries

Meemken

Bellemare

2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

127

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“…All farmers receive this fixed price at the time of delivery. Later on, certain additional payments can be made by the cooperative based on dividends from selling in certified markets or other types of profits made by better‐performing cooperatives (Meemken et al ). Our price calculations include these additional payments per kilogram of cocoa on top of the base price that is set by the government.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the individual, the choice of which provider to use is mainly a question of the strength of the network signal in the particular location and the provider that peers in his or her own social network use. Positive network externalities occur because all three phone providers offer price discounts for calls and text messages exchanged within the provider's network (Meemken et al ). Hence, it is fair to assume that more information is exchanged within one network than across the networks of different providers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cocoa yields are measured in kilograms harvested per hectare during the twelve months prior to the survey, as reported by farmers during the interviews. As Fairtrade encourages agricultural training and the adoption of better agricultural practices (Fairtrade 2017), and the Fairtrade premium can be used by cooperatives to provide inputs and other services to their members (Meemken and Qaim 2018;Loconto et al 2019), we expect certification to have a positive effect on yield.…”

Section: Outcome Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We are not aware of previous studies that were able to properly control for cooperative effects . This is a major drawback, as sustainability standards are strongly promoted by various types of public‐ and private‐sector organizations (Dragusanu, Giovannucci, and Nunn ; Meemken et al ). Hence, it is important to better understand whether standards actually deliver on their promise to help smallholder farmers.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Do Sustainability Standards Benefit Smallholder Farmers Also When Accounting For Cooperative Effects? Evidence from Côte d'Ivoire

Sellare¹,

Meemken²,

Kouamé³

et al. 2020

American J Agri Economics

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Although many studies analyzed effects of sustainability standards—such as Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance—on smallholder farmers in developing countries, most did not sufficiently account for systematic differences between certified and noncertified farmers. Certified farmers are typically organized in cooperatives. When sampling only from a small number of cooperatives, as previous studies did, it is not easy to disentangle certification effects from possible cooperative effects. Here, we address this shortcoming by randomly sampling from a large number of cooperatives, thus better capturing existing institutional heterogeneity. In particular, we collect and use data from cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire who are organized in Fairtrade‐certified and noncertified cooperatives. Regression models with instrumental variables show that Fairtrade has positive and significant effects on cocoa yields, prices, and living standards. These effects remain significant also after controlling for cooperative characteristics, but the magnitude of the estimates changes. We draw two conclusions. First, in Côte d'Ivoire, Fairtrade certification benefits farmers economically. Second, and more generally, cooperative characteristics are jointly correlated with certification and relevant outcomes, which needs to be accounted for to avoid bias when evaluating the benefits of sustainability standards in the small farm sector.

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Integrating the right to food in sustainability standards: A theory of change to move global supply chains from responsibilities to impacts

Beuchelt

Schneider²,

Gamba

2022

Applied Eco Perspectives Pol

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To address the undesired environmental and social impacts of agricultural export production, the agricultural industry increasingly relies on sustainability standards. These standards neglect food security, although rights‐based food security criteria were recently developed. This research analyses the responsibilities of global supply chain actors for the Right to Food and identifies a feasible implementation pathway to support the operationalization of these criteria. Based on qualitative research, a theory of change was developed and tested in six case studies across the globe. The theory of change discusses relevant stakeholders, necessary changes, expected impacts, and emphasizes the role of market demand and institutional frameworks.

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Effects of Fairtrade on the livelihoods of poor rural workers

Cited by 56 publications

References 28 publications

Smallholder farmers and contract farming in developing countries

Smallholder farmers and contract farming in developing countries

Do Sustainability Standards Benefit Smallholder Farmers Also When Accounting For Cooperative Effects? Evidence from Côte d'Ivoire

Integrating the right to food in sustainability standards: A theory of change to move global supply chains from responsibilities to impacts

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