Assessing the Impact of Fairtrade on Poverty Reduction and Economic Resilience through Rural Development

In 2021, Fairtrade Germany and Fairtrade Austria commissioned Mainlevel Consulting to implement an applied research project that aims at identifying the contribution of Fairtrade on poverty reduction through rural development. It is a 2nd follow-up study, after two impact studies (CEval 2012, CEval, 2018) had already been conducted in 2011/2012 and 2017/2018. The research assesses Fairtrade’s contribution across for different sustainability dimensions – economic resilience, social well-being, good governance and environmental integrity. It focuses on Fairtrade certified and non-certified Small Producer Organization (SPOs) in three product settings, i.e. cocoa in Central Ghana, banana in Northern Peru and coffee in Central Peru. Whereas in the cocoa and coffee setting one Fairtrade – certified cooperative was examined, in the banana case several certified cooperatives were part of this study.

Whereas the two previous studies were based on indicators by the Committee on Sustainability Assessments (COSA), the current study is based on the Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture (SAFA). It is a framework introduced by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that is based on COSA and specifically designed to assess SPOs in agricultural settings.

Following a case study approach, the findings are based on primary qualitative data derived from Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs). In addition, quantitative data on key variables (such as household income, trainings received and price received) was collected at producer level and participatory observations were conducted. Data collection across the three different contexts took place between June and October 2021. Findings are structured along the economic, social, governance and environmental themes of the SAFA dimensions and include crosssectional, i.e. Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade case study comparison, and longitudinal, i.e. comparison over time (2012 – 2018 – 2021) results.