Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Today there are different types of certifications of different products. Fairtrade is the most common certification in the world. Fairtrade is a worldwide non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization. Fairtrade certified producer organizations represent over one million farmers and workers in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The vision of Fairtrade is a world in which all producers can enjoy sustainable livelihoods, secure, fulfill their potential and decide on their future. Fairtrade mean they offer their producers stable prices, premiums, partnership and em-powerment. There are many discussions if Fairtrade really are fair for the producers and if the producers will get what Fairtrade promises.

During later years the interest for Fairtrade certified products has increased. One of their most common certified products is coffee. As such coffee is the most important export from third world countries. Indonesia is one of the countries who had produced coffee for the longest time. Today Indonesia is the world’s third largest coffee producer and will answer for approx-imately 7% of the coffee production in the world.

The aim with this thesis was to investigate what the farming situation looked like for coffee farmers in Aceh, Indonesia and to see if there were any benefits for Fairtrade certified farmers as compared to farmers without certification. Further the aim was also to investigate if the certified farmers experienced any benefits. Factors of income and harvest were compared be-tween the farmers.

The investigation consists of a literature study and a field study made in the central of Aceh, Indonesia, were interviews with the farmers was included. The investigation area is famous for its Gayo Mountain Coffee which is cultivated on hills in a production area with an altitude of 1100-1300 meters. The farmers are small-scale producers with an average of one hectare land and many of the farmers are using intercropping.

The result from the investigation showed that the farmers without Fairtrade certification had a higher income per produced kilogram of coffee than the farmers who had Fairtrade certifica-tion, even if these experienced their income increased after certification. The certified farmers also experienced that the help and farming advice from the Fairtrade cooperative had helped them to increase their yield. The result also showed that the yield from the certified farmers was considerably larger, than for uncertified farmers, both calculated per hectare and per tree.