The marketing of coffee through group-based, certified market channels is often promoted by governments and donors as a viable business model for poor small-scale farmers. Organic and fairtrade coffees have become very popular among socially, environmentally and health conscious consumers in recent years. While coffee certification programs have been in place for over fifteen years, there are few studies on the welfare impacts of certification schemes. Therefore, this research seeks to analyse the impacts of certification on poverty alleviation and to identify the critical factors which explain success or failure of certification schemes. We use a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, comparing small-scale coffee producers in northern... |