Revaluing Peasant Coffee Production: Organic and Fair Trade Markets in Mexico
Author(s)
Calo, Muriel; Wise, Timothy A.
Abstract
Though they still represent a small fraction of total coffee sales, organic and Fair Trade coffees have established defined standards and built rapidly growing markets. But to what extent can these dynamic new niche markets help solve the coffee crisis plaguing the world’s small scale producers? This study evaluates this question in light of the efforts of one group of Mexican coffee farmers in the state of Oaxaca to gain maximum advantage from these new market opportunities. Based on this case study research, we conclude that while market based mechanisms add value to small scale coffee production, a more comprehensive approach to the problem is needed. This would involve changes in rural development policies at the national level – credit, infrastructure, and agricultural extension, in addition to direct support programs. In the end, though, neither niche markets nor national government programs can serve as a substitute for concerted international efforts to address the price crisis. As long as supply continues to outpace demand in a deregulated global market, and as long as a highly concentrated group of transnational buyers dominate that market, prices will generally be unsustainably low. This study suggests that an internationally coordinated effort to regulate the market is needed to stabilize prices and raise them to remunerative levels – at least to current Fair Trade prices.
