Food sovereignty, food security and fair trade: the case of an influential Nicaraguan smallholder cooperative

Bacon, Christopher M.

doi:10.1080/01436597.2015.1002991

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In 2014, > 100,000 farmers were affiliated with cooperatives in Nicaragua, with cooperatives controlling approximately 35% of coffee exports (Utting et al 2014). Cooperative functions have evolved from the 1980s focus on agrarian reform and civil defense during wartime to become multiservice providers coordinating marketing, credit, and local development (Bacon 2015, Wilson 2015).…”

Section: Local Institutions For Food and Water Security In Nicaraguamentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a feminist political ecology of household food and water security during drought in northern Nicaragua

Bacon¹,

Kelley²,

Stewart³

2022

E&S

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Few studies assess the relationship between food and water access, despite global concerns about people's inability to maintain access to both food and water. We conducted a mixed-methods comparative case study in northern Nicaragua, with smallholders from two neighboring communities that differed in water availability and institutional strength, using a feminist political ecology framework and food and water security definitions that focus on access, availability, use, and stability. We adopted a participatory approach that included: a sex-disaggregated survey in 2016; interviews, participant observation, and community-based water quality testing from 2014 to 2019; and analysis of a severe drought that occurred from 2014 to 2017. Our results suggest that uneven power relations, biophysical conditions, gender, and institutions shape food and water access, and indicate that households across both communities average 2 months of drinking water insecurity during the dry season followed by an average of 2.5 months of food insecurity early in the growing season. The average duration of lean food months was similar across communities and sex, but water insecurity lasted longer in the community that had weaker local institutions and less surface water availability. Ethnographic research helped to document uneven and gendered experiences of water access and to illustrate how they were also shaped by conflicts over water for irrigation vs. domestic uses and cross-scalar limitations in water and land governance. Although we found that gender and institutions were not strong predictors of several food and water insecurity indicators on their own, both factors influenced the terms of access, conflict, and cooperative governance needed to secure resources and well-being. Our study highlights the need for theory, methods, and field research that integrate the analysis of food and water security, and it contributes to developing a feminist political ecology approach that unifies this analysis with a focus on gender.

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Section: Local Institutions For Food and Water Security In Nicaraguamentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a feminist political ecology of household food and water security during drought in northern Nicaragua

Bacon¹,

Kelley²,

Stewart³

2022

E&S

Self Cite

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“…But to counter market domination by large plantations, in the case of coffee only small farmers who rely primarily on household labour and are organized into co-operatives are eligible to participate. 3 Research across Latin America (Jaffee, 2007;Raynolds, 2009;Renard, 2003Renard, , 2005Renard, , 2015, including studies focusing specifically on Nicaragua (Bacon, 2005(Bacon, , 2015Donovan & Poole, 2014Valkila & Nygren, 2010), document the nature and potential variability in Fairtrade's central benefit streams for coffee farmers. This research reveals how: (1) economic rewards, particularly guaranteed prices, have allowed coffee farmers to survive drops in the world price but benefit large producers more than small ones; (2) Fairtrade Premiums have paid for coffee improvements and social services, yet vary depending on export volumes; (3) some buyers, but not all, have fostered capacity building; and (4) participation in coffee co-operatives has increased, though not equally across gender, ethnicity and class lines.…”

Section: And Coffeementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Equal Exchange, the US ethical coffee pioneer, started out importing Nicaraguan coffee during the Sandinista revolution. Nicaragua is currently the fourth largest producer of Fairtrade International coffee (FTI, 2015) and about 15% of small coffee farmers belong to Fairtrade-certified co-operatives (Bacon, 2015). Given Nicaragua's long history and major role in ethical coffee production, it is not surprising that it was included in Fair Trade USA's Coffee Innovation Pilot Programme.…”

Section: O108 | Raynolds and Rostymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An extensive literature analyses the development implications of certification following Fairtrade International standards for Latin American coffee farmers (e.g. Jaffee, 2007;Raynolds, 2009;Renard, 2015), including farmers in Nicaragua (Bacon, 2005(Bacon, , 2015Donovan & Poole, 2014Valkila & Nygren, 2010). When Fair Trade USA was a Fairtrade International affiliate, conclusions regarding the certification's ramifications were applicable to both programmes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fair Trade USA coffee plantation certification: Ramifications for workers in Nicaragua

Raynolds

Rosty

2020

Development Policy Review

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Motivation: Certification programmes shape global coffee production conditions. Fairtrade International oversees the major ethical coffee certification for small farmers. Since Fair Trade USA left the global system to certify coffee plantations in 2011 and now has its own standards, programme-specific research is needed to understand the implications of certification for workers. Purpose: We provide the first academic analysis of Fair Trade USA's coffee plantation certification to identify its key programmatic features and ramifications for workers, particularly how certification has affected workplace and employment conditions, workers' wellbeing and labour rights. Approach and methods: We analyse programme documents to explain Fair Trade USA's standards and how they diverge from those of Fairtrade International. To demonstrate the impacts of Fair Trade USA certification, we draw on qualitative research on one of the first certified coffee plantations in Nicaragua, including interviews with managers and interviews and focus group discussions with workers. Findings: Fair Trade USA has maintained key elements of Fairtrade International certification, but its labour rights standards are significantly weaker. In the Nicaraguan case, Fair Trade USA certification has fostered major improvements in workplace and employment conditions and some improvements in workers' wellbeing through the Premium programme. Certification has not significantly advanced labour rights. Policy implications: National conditions shape certification's implications for workers, creating a central paradox. Fair Trade USA certification is likely to bring the greatest gains for workers where conditions are worst, where bringing plantations into legal compliance is a victory. The programme cannot pull workers out of poverty or guarantee decent work.

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“…Some scholars have remarked that food sovereignty has been only minimally successful in affecting policy or changing regulations (Edelman, 2014;Hospes, 2014). Others have noted contradictions in strategies for food sovereignty: between attempts by local activists to create food systems that are relatively autonomous from the whims of the global market and organized campaigns to change state policy and motivate institutional support for small farmers (Clark, 2013;Edelman, 2014;McKay, Nehring, & Walsh-Dilley, 2014); between proposals championing communal vs. individual rights (Agarwal, 2014;Claeys, 2014); and between a focus on making trade more fair and efforts to build autonomous local food systems (Bacon, 2015;Burnett & Murphy, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Translating the Politics of Food Sovereignty: Digging into Contradictions, Uncovering New Dimensions

Shattuck

Schiavoni²,

VanGelder³

2015

Globalizations

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Food sovereignty, as a movement and a set of ideas, is coming of age. Rooted in resistance to free trade and the globalizing force of neoliberalism, the concept has inspired collective action across the world. We examine what has changed since food sovereignty first emerged on the international scene and reflect on insight from new terrain where the movement has expanded. We argue that to advance the theory and practice of food sovereignty, new frameworks and analytical methods are needed to move beyond binariesbetween urban and rural, gender equality and the family farm, trade and localism, and autonomy and engagement with the state. A research agenda in food sovereignty must not shy away from the rising contradictions in and challenges to the movement. The places of seeming contradiction may in fact be where the greatest insights are to be found. We suggest that by taking a relational perspective, scholars can begin to draw insight into the challenges and sticking points of food sovereignty by training their lens on shifts in the global food regime, on the efforts to construct sovereignty at multiple scales, and on the points of translation where food sovereignty is articulated through historical memory, identity, and everyday life.

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Food sovereignty, food security and fair trade: the case of an influential Nicaraguan smallholder cooperative

Cited by 18 publications

References 23 publications

Toward a feminist political ecology of household food and water security during drought in northern Nicaragua

Toward a feminist political ecology of household food and water security during drought in northern Nicaragua

Fair Trade USA coffee plantation certification: Ramifications for workers in Nicaragua

Translating the Politics of Food Sovereignty: Digging into Contradictions, Uncovering New Dimensions

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