Fair-Trade Certification Impacts on Social Responsibility and Ethics of Smallholder Coffee Producers in Ethiopia

Abstract

In Ethiopia, more than one third of foreign exchange is attributed to coffee product and the production process engages almost one fourth of the working population of the country. Small-scale coffee farmers producing for fair-trade market outlets are frequently considered to benefit from better prices and stable market outlets. Yet, some empirical studies are verifying this notion adversely. Therefore, this study tried to assess the impact of fair-trade certification on social responsibility and ethics of small-scale coffee farmers using both descriptive and econometrics techniques for the selected 383 respondents in Jimma zone of Ethiopia. The study investigated that the introduction of fair-trade certification among small-scale coffee producers matters the inquiry of social responsibility and development significantly. Logistic regression result indicates that, the coefficient for the variable fair-trade membership status is 3.412. This result implies that for every one-unit increase in fair-trade membership status, we expect 3.412 increase in the log-odds of the dependent variable employment creation. Also, the coefficient for the variable fair-trade membership status is 1.319. This shows that for every one-unit increase in fair trade membership, we expect a 1.319 increase in the log-odds of the dependent variable. Also, education level and family size affect child school enrollment significantly and positively. However, the coverage and development of fair-trade certification in the study area was very low. Therefore, extension of fair-trade certification should be well thought-out as one of sustainable development riding instruments among policy makers.