Unequal participation of smallholder farmers in coffee certification programs in central kenya

1. Unequal participation of smallholder farmers in coffee certification programs in Central Kenya Kirumba, E.G., Mithoefer, D., Gassner, A., Pinard, F. CAFNET PROJECT – ICRAF/CIRAD 29th MARCH 2011

2. Introduction Certification offers alternative governance (Raynolds et al., 2007) Potential for premiums, better prices, market visibility 8% of green coffee certified: fair trade, rainforest alliance, Utz certified e.t.c. (Giovannucci, 2010). Concerns about exclusion of producers & imbalances of power (Swinnen and Maertens, 2007; Sexsmith & Potts, 2009) In Kenya, coffee certification relatively new 1st certification schemes in 2005: Fair trade, CAFÉ, UTZ

3. Introduction cont’d… Very little done on certification Moderate price increases, better cooperative organization, markets access (Kamau et al., 2009, Pflaeger, 2009) Gaps exist: What are the governance strategies? Do farmers self select or are pre-selected? What are the key determinants?

4. Materials and Methods

5. Materials and Methods cont’d …. Tekangu cooperative society: 3200 farmers Utz certification in 2008/2009 coffee season. Study done same period. Certified farmers: 2176, Non-certified farmers: 1024 Sample size: 150 farmers. 75 per category Simple random sampling Finite population correction: <5%

6. Data collection: FGDs, informal interviews, questionnaires & lit Source: Field Survey (FGD) Data analysis: descriptives, inferential statistics, multi dimensional scaling (MDS), regression analysis

7. RESULTS

8. Top down strategy Buyers interface between coop & international buyers Write proposals for funding to donors Select cooperative : based on quality, friendship, kinship Convince coop officials: promise of high prices Idea floated during AGM, <5% attendance, passed Pre-selection: ‘A’ (good) and ‘B’ (poor) farmers selected Promoter farmers identified & trained Train fellow farmers

9. Suggested determinants of inclusion

10. Variable selection from suggested dets.

11. Comparisons between certified & non-certified farmers Key: ns= not significant; * = significant at p<0.1; ** = significant at p<0.05; ***= significant at p<0.01

12. Comparisons of certified vs. non-certified farmers Key: ns= not significant; * = significant at p<0.1; ** = significant at p<0.05; ***= significant at p<0.01

13. Key determinants of inclusion into certification Key: β (odds ratio); S.E: (standard error); Exp (β): (exponential beta); Wald: wald statistic; df: degree of freedom

14. Conclusions Certification focuses on ‘good’ farmers with pre-enabling conditions Pre-selection done to guarantee win-win situation Interactive participation (acceptance, ownership, sustainability) Training & information access for farmers – choices & self selection

15. Acknowlegement CAFNET project, IFRA & French Embassy for funding Supervision & guidance: Dagmar, Fabrice, Anja Farmers, Tekangu cooperative officials, buyer representatives