African Studies

Permanent URI for this collection

http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/153

Browse

Browsing African Studies by Subject "Coffee, Fair trade, Coffee Export, Fair Trade coffee, Farmers’ income from coffee"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    The Effect of Fair Trade on the Coffee Sector: A Comparative Study of Ethiopia and Kenya
    (Addis Ababa University, 2016-06) Tadesse, Eskedar; G/Selassie, Kidist (PhD)
    Concerns for producers’ income combined with those for social injustice and environmental destruction have led to a global movement for sustainability standards. One of these sustainability standards is Fair Trade. This study addresses the effect of Fair Trade both at the macro and micro levels and attempts to find a link between them. At the macro-level, it compares the effect of Fair Trade on the volume of export for Ethiopian and Kenyan coffee based on data on coffee export and international price for the past twenty five years (1991-2015). At the micro level, it assesses the effect of participating in Fair Trade on the income of coffee farmers in Eastern Hararghe based on primary data collected from 374 farm households by means of a questionnaire. Regression analyses have been conducted to identify the effect of Fair Trade on coffee export volume and farmers’ income at the macro and Micro levels. The results show that the volume of Fair Trade coffee exported has been steadily increasing for Ethiopian coffee while it has been steadily decreasing for Kenyan coffee. In terms of prices, however, Kenyan coffee has consistently commanded a higher price than Ethiopian coffee over the years, which may have to do with the differences in the quality of coffee exported by the two countries. As far as the effect of Fair Trade on the volume of coffee export is concerned, the present study has not found evidence of significant effect at the macro level. Similarly, no evidence of significant effect of Fair Trade participation on farmers’ income from coffee has been recorded. The policy implication of the findings is that there should be more effort on the part of governments to seek niche markets for their coffee produce instead of relying only on Fair Trade to secure a better life for their farmers