Marketing e Negocios

Comercio justo?

… justo hasta la esquina.

 

El comercio justo del café asciende a más o menos 0.5% del comercio de este producto a nivel internacional. Al parecer, en los países donde se consume este café, los precios pagados por él pueden estar muy por encima del café comercializado de manera convencional. Lo malo es que el sobreprecio es fijado de manera arbitraria, basándose obviamente en el poder adquisitivo de la vecindad. Hasta ahí bien. Lo malo es que según estudios, el sobreprecio pasado luego a las cooperativas originarias del producto suelen estar entre el 2 y el 20% del sobreprecio!

 

Aquí abajo copio un estudio que se hizo en Nicaragua. Espero que en el Perú la situación sea mejor y que los productores de café FT o FTO perciban un mayor porcentaje del sobreprecio, ya que deben cubrir el sobreprecio de producción, aunque claro, a mí me preocupan todos los productores y no sólo aquellos que tienen acceso a condiciones especiales y precios mejores.

 

 

 

Valkila, J., Fair Trade organic coffee production in Nicaragua — Sustainable development or a poverty trap? Ecological Economics (2009), doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.07.002

 

Abstract

This article assesses the impact of Fair Trade organic coffee production on the well-being of small-scale farmers in Nicaragua. Studying the results of organic management is crucial for evaluating the advantages of Fair Trade because approximately half of all Fair Trade coffee is also organically certified. A wide range of farmers, representatives of cooperatives and export companies in Nicaragua were interviewed during seven months of field work between 2005 and 2008. Fair Trade organic production raises farmer income when low intensity organic farming is an alternative to low-intensity conventional farming. However, low-intensity farming produces very little coffee in the case of the most marginalized farmers, keeping these farmers in poverty. With higher intensities of management, the economic advantages of Fair Trade organic production largely depend on prices in the mainstream market.

 

Conclusion

Fair Trade organic coffee production can increase farmer income in the case of low-intensity coffee production. However, the increase in income is very modest, because so little coffee is produced by

marginalized farmers. These farmers remain in poverty despite being connected to Fair Trade organic markets (Bacon et al., 2008b). In the case of more intensive Fair Trade organic coffee production the advantages conferred by price premiums are not straightforward, because yields tend to be lower compared with yields that can be achieved using conventional methods of comparable intensity. In this case, the advantages of Fair Trade organic production depend on prices in the mainstream markets: when prices for conventional coffee have been extremely low, Fair Trade organic prices have been attractive to farmers. As the future prices of coffee are unknown, it is impossible to say how relevant the price guarantee provided by Fair Trade will be.

The costs of fertilization are not necessarily more expensive when organic methods are used. Large quantities of organic materials are available, although these are not conveniently located for all farmers. Organic production substitutes inorganic fertilizers with manual labour. This creates employment in rural areas that have limited job opportunities outside agriculture (Martínez-Torres, 2008). However, this labour comprises back-breaking shovelling and carrying of heavy sacks of organic materials with no mechanical assistance. Working conditions in Fair Trade organic coffee production in Nicaragua are not superior to the working conditions in rural Nicaragua in general

(Valkila and Nygren, 2009). Fair Trade organic farmers and their hired labour are not very well compensated for producing organic coffee. The ecosystem services provided by organic coffee production would merit a payment, as price premiums by certified coffee markets alone do not provide clear advantages to farmers.

 

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Jorge Mayer

Manager Yield & Quality Traits

jorge.mayer@grdc.com.au

Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC)

Barton ACT 2600 Australia

 

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