Environmental Protection Impacts of Fair-Trade Certification on Small Scale Coffee Producers The Case of South Western Ethiopia, Jimma Zone

Abstract

Since more than one third of Ethiopia’s foreign exchange is attributed to coffee product andthe production process engages almost one fourth of the working population of the country,in Ethiopia coffee production is one of the most important sectors of livelihood. And thelargest portion of coffee production comes from small holder farmers. Small-scale coffeefarmers producing for fair-trade market outlets are frequently considered to benefit frombetter prices and stable market outlets by producing environmentally affable products.Nevertheless, some empirical studies are verifying this notion adversely. This study,therefore, tried to assess the impact of fair trade certification on environmental protectionusing econometrics techniques. The research applied cross-sectional study procedures for theselected 383 respondents in order to deal with -environmental influences of fair tradeintroduction in the study area of Jimma Zone, Ethiopia. The study investigated that theintroduction of fair trade certification among small-scale coffee producers matters thequestion of biodiversity or environmental conservation significantly and positively.Therefore, extension of fair-trade certification should be well thought-out as one ofsustainable development riding engines and instruments among policy makers.