What Tanzania's coffee farmers can teach the world: a performance-based look at the fair trade-free trade debate

Bradley D. Parrish, Valerie A. Luzadis and William R. Bentley
Additional contact information
Bradley D. Parrish: University of Leeds, UK, Postal: University of Leeds, UK
Valerie A. Luzadis: State University of New York, USA, Postal: State University of New York, USA
William R. Bentley: State University of New York, USA, Postal: State University of New York, USA

Sustainable Development, 2005, vol. 13, issue 3, 177-189

Abstract: Questions remain about the effectiveness of fair trade, especially in comparison with free trade approaches to development. Both strategies seek to benefit smallholder farmers in lower-income countries, who are vulnerable to declining and fluctuating commodity prices and rising production costs. This study examines two prominent market-based interventions, Fairtrade certification and TechnoServe business development, as they are implemented at two coffee producer organizations in Tanzania. Qualitative and secondary quantitative data were collected using rapid appraisal methodology during three months of field research. The data were analyzed using the sustainable livelihood framework. This study concludes that both intervention strategies yield potentially valuable results for smallholders in multiple domains, but each is distinctly suited to specific market conditions. Implications of the study's findings are discussed in terms of an emerging consensus on intervention strategies. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Date: 2005
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/sd.276 Link to full text; subscription required (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:13:y:2005:i:3:p:177-189

DOI: 10.1002/sd.276

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainable Development is currently edited by Richard Welford

More articles in Sustainable Development from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().