Abstract:
Mutual respect, recognition and trust represent the founding stones for any cooperation among human
beings and agricultural organizations make no distinction. For the first time, this research has
investigated the reciprocal opinions of the managers of 22 coffee cooperatives, all members of BRFair,
the umbrella association, that should cooperate for the enhancement of the growth of the Fair-Trade
(FT) movement in Brazil. Through direct visits, telephonic conversation and skype talks, qualitative
information and data were collected from 19 cooperatives, whereas the managers of three cooperatives
have decided to not cooperate. The data reveal a large heterogeneity, in terms of number of members,
areas with coffee, output, years of experience, and share of FT coffee with respect to total output. In
some cases, the FT certification is only one of the strategies for diversifying the final market, whereas
for some other respondents the FT certification has been a strategic decision. Three cooperatives
emerge as leading the path for the promotion of the FT concept and for further diffusion of the organic
methods, whereas many respondents admit a relatively scarce involvement in FT, organic and BRFair
activities. Through a cluster analysis, three groups were identified: “Young, medium size and not very
active”, “Medium age, small size and mildly prepositive”, and “Historical, large size and convinced”.
Thanks to this research, the self-consciousness of the BRFair members has increased and several
activities have been planned for improving the participation and performances of the laggards. |
