Small coffee farmer does not benefit from Western initiatives for fair trade

Local communities in developing countries do not benefit from partnerships between governments, companies and public organisations that are committed to initiatives for fair and sustainable trade. The collaborations focus too much on the commercial outcomes and pay too little attention to the strengthening of local economies. This is the conclusion drawn by NWO-funded researcher Verena Bitzer, who gained a doctorate on this subject on 25 February 2011 from Utrecht University.

The production chains of coffee, cotton and cocoa are not yet sustainable, even though there are various initiatives from governments, public organisations and companies to develop production and trade in that direction. Verena Bitzer examined to what extent these initiatives facilitate sustainable development. She concludes that the partnerships do not yield any structural improvements for farmers and agricultural workers in developing countries.

Partnerships are mainly business driven

Verena Bitzer investigated dozens of such partnerships. She concludes that the partnerships encourage small changes that could develop into large changes. For example, they contribute to new production methods. However, from a development perspective the positive effects are still quite indirect and ambiguous, states Bitzer. The benefits for producers are often uncertain because partnerships all too frequently focus on results and operate in a top-down manner. They fail to make a contribution to the strengthening of local capital, for example.

New negotiations needed for sustainable development

The meagre contribution from partnerships to structural development has its origins in the underlying motives: these are often neoliberal in nature and are mainly driven by business objectives. Aspects such as ‘empowerment’ of the local community are not considered. Genuine sustainable development would probably benefit more from a political discussion than from the pure economic approach of partnerships, believes Bitzer. The public organisations that have challenged the companies to become more sustainable might also be able to interest them in a new, broader vision of sustainable production.

The PhD research project Partnering for Change in Chains. On the Capacity of Partnerships to Promote Sustainable Change in Global Agricultural Commodity Chains was carried out at Utrecht University under the auspices of the Partnerships for sustainable development research programme. This programme is financed by the NWO programme Social Scientific Research into Nature and the Environment (GaMON).

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