Coffee farmers' incentives to comply with sustainability standards
Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies
ISSN: 2044-0839
Article publication date: 30 April 2020
Issue publication date: 29 July 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the incentives to coffee farmers to participate in certification schemes that require improved agricultural practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors ran a choice experiment among 250 Brazilian coffee farmers in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Findings
The authors’ findings show that both cash and non-cash payments are likely to incentive farmers' participation in a certification scheme. Besides price premium, incentives as long-term contracts and provision of technical would encourage producers to adopt eco-certification schemes. Our results also suggest that non-cash payments may be appropriate substitutes to a price premium to some extent.
Research limitations/implications
The large coffee producers are over-represented in our sample compared to the population of Brazilian coffee farms. However, it seems reasonable to focus on these producers, as they are usually the ones who individually adopt strategies, since small farmers are induced by collective strategies (e.g. cooperatives).
Social implications
The result regarding technical assistance makes sense given that Brazilian farmers generally have poor access to rural extension services.
Originality/value
We contributed in the literature about adoption of sustainable agriculture practices analyzing the requirements and motivations for farmer participation in certification schemes. We also contribute private and public strategies to encourage the adoption of sustainable practices.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the editors of Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies and the anonymous referees, as well as the Coffee Growers Cooperative who provided the list of farmers which are interviewed.Funding: Funding for this research was provided by the French National Research Agency (ANR), under grant ANR- 11-CEPL-0009.
Citation
Lemeilleur, S., Subervie, J., Presoto, A.E., Souza Piao, R. and Saes, M.S.M. (2020), "Coffee farmers' incentives to comply with sustainability standards", Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 365-383. https://doi.org/10.1108/JADEE-04-2019-0051
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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