Coffee Cooperatives Research Articles

From Crisis to Specialty Coffee the Case of Nicaraguan Smallholder Cooperatives and Jesuit Business Education for Sustainability and Justice

Project-based service-learning has been proven to be an effective experiential learning opportunity that complements standard curricula in business schools. Seattle University (SU) has collaborated with its sister university, Universidad de Centro Americana (UCA) in Managua, Nicaragua, since 2015 on several project-based service-learning experiences focused on sustainable coffee farming practices and the implications that climate change may have on coffee farms and communities. This partnership with UCA and coffee cooperatives has its roots in the global coffee crisis of the early 2000s and has produced multiple projects that support farmers entering the specialty coffee markets. This paper as such presents the outcomes of our annual field research that took place in Penas Blancas, Nicaragua in March 2018. Using the framework of sustainable coffee in light of environmental, social, and economic sustainability objectives, we provide evidence that many farmers in Nicaragua have been experiencing issues with their farms’ sustainability. Our findings, moreover, reveal that the direct trade model used by the SU student-run social enterprise Cafe Ambiental is the most effective means of ensuring the farmers’ economic sustainability, thereby allowing them to develop the environmental sustainability of their farms as well as improve their family and community health, education, and overall livelihoods for enhanced social sustainability. This social enterprise model created by SU students takes significant steps toward fulfilling the needs and improving the lives of coffee farmers in Nicaragua while preserving the land at the same time so future generations can grow quality coffee. Finally, we believe that our project has potential that is transferable to other Jesuit higher education institutions that utilize and pursue similar structures and objectives.

The Proposal Of West Java Export Coffee Distribution Model

Currently, West Java exports coffee through 3 companies, namely Sari Makmur Medan, Indokom Surabaya, and Deltamas Semarang. The long distribution chain causes low prices at farmers’ level. If the coffee is exported directly, it is estimated to increase the selling price of coffee beans at farm level. The purpose of this study is to design a coffee distribution model, so that West Java can export directly to several destination countries by fulfilling the requirements of international trade. In designing the West Java coffee distribution model, four stages were conducted, namely mapping business processes, cluster division, optimization models, and location theory analysis. As the result, this research has produced two alternative proposals for the West Java coffee export distribution model. To test the feasibility of the proposed distribution model, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) has been carried out with stakeholders of coffee cooperatives, Gapoktan (farmer’s association), coffee associations, and others.

Analysis of the Effectiveness of Coffee Cooperatives in Coffee Value Chain in Melka-ballo Woreda, East Hararghe Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

This study was aimed at analyzing the effectiveness of coffee value chain in Melka-ballo woreda of Oromia Region with specific objectives of identifying actors in the coffee value chain and describing their roles; examining the linkages between cooperatives and other actors in the coffee value chain; and analyzing determining factors affecting coffee cooperatives in creating effective value chain. The study was conducted on three primary coffee cooperatives by selecting 291 member respondents by using multi-stage sampling technique. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data was collected using semi-structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics like percentage and frequency, three level likert scale and binary logistic regression. The result of the descriptive statistics showed that in the study area there are two types of actors namely, direct/primary and indirect/supportive actors and most of them perform more than one role in the value chain. The result also indicated that there are five types of linkages between actors namely; Horizontal linkage, Vertical linkage, Technical Support Linkage, Business linkage and Marketing Linkage. The opinion of the respondents showed that the linkage among actors in the coffee value chain was weak. Moreover, the result of binary logistic regression revealed that corruption, Training, and management capacity has statistically significant partial effect on the effectiveness of coffee cooperatives in coffee value chain at p-value less than 0.01 whereas access to credit, technology and proximity to cooperatives has statistically significant partial effect on the effectiveness of cooperatives in coffee value chain at p-value less than 0.05. Accordingly, access to credit, training and management capacity has statistically significant positive effect on the effectiveness coffee cooperatives in coffee value chain whereas corruption, technology and proximity to cooperative society has statistically significant negative effect on dependent variable “effectiveness of coffee value chain”. It was recommended that greater attention should be given by all stakeholders and actors in the coffee value chain to design strategies on how to smooth their relationship and avoid any bottlenecks such as corruption, inefficient management and poor quality training and designing simple and cheap technology. Sufficient and interest free credit facilities should be available in a timely manner to cooperative members and strategies should be designed to link microfinance with the cooperatives. Keywords: Coffee cooperative, Ethiopia, Effectiveness, Linkage, Value chain DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-7-02 Publication date :March 31 st 2019

China output up despite regulations

Our research examines the benefits and drawbacks for cooperatives who participate in voluntary coffee certifications. We interviewed administrators at twenty Costa Rican coffee cooperatives about management practices related to voluntary certification. Voluntary certifications are popular among coffee cooperatives. Access to certified markets is facilitated by state support of the cooperative sector, regulation of the coffee sector and well-enforced environmental and social laws. However, there are no significant or consistent financial incentives for farmers to pursue certification. Multiple certifications may lower auditing and implementation costs, but cooperatives rarely receive the full premium for multiply-certified coffee. Low market demand for certified coffee, weak price incentives and high auditing and management costs encourage cooperatives to certify only a portion of their members. This strategy rewards compliant farmers rather than inducing widespread change to farming practices among the entire membership. Though financial incentives are weak, certifications offer non-financial benefits to both farmers and cooperatives, including better management and more resilient cooperatives.

CalcuCafé

Many smallholder coffee farmers in Latin America join cooperatives for increased access to global markets. This requires them to understand their costs relative to a complex sustainable coffee production process. To that end, we designed CalcuCafé, a web-based application for cooperative technicians and coffee farmers to calculate a farmer's costs of coffee production. We iteratively developed and evaluated CalcuCafé's design with members of two coffee cooperatives in Peru. Our research uncovered different expectations about the application between technicians and farmers, stemming from differing backgrounds, goals, and perspectives. Learning to use the application in a group setting helped overcome these differences and facilitated collaboration, resulting in a strong buy-in for the application. Our paper contributes a research and design effort to support smallholder coffee farmers, an underrecognized group at the intersection of HCI for sustainable agriculture and HCI for development.

The coffee cooperatives of the North of Paraná: trajectory and evolution

The coffee cooperatives of the North of Paraná: trajectory and evolution

Do Coffee Farmers Benefit in Food Security from Participating in Coffee Cooperatives? Evidence from Southwest Ethiopia Coffee Cooperatives.

Most coffee in Ethiopia is produced by smallholder farmers who face a daily struggle to get sufficient income but also to feed their families. At the same time, many smallholder coffee producers are members of cooperatives. Yet, literature has paid little attention to the effect of cooperatives on combating food insecurity among cash crop producers including coffee farmers. The objective of the study was to investigate how coffee cooperative membership may affect food security among coffee farm households in Southwest Ethiopia. The study used cross-sectional household data on income, expenditure on food, staple food production (maize and teff), and utilization of improved inputs (fertilizer and improved seed) collected from 256 randomly selected farm households (132 cooperative members and 124 nonmembers) and applied an inverse probability weighting (IPW) estimation to assess the impact of cooperative membership on food security. The result revealed that cooperative membership has a positive and significant effect on staple food production (maize and teff) and facilitated technological transformation via increased utilization of fertilizer and improved seeds. Nonetheless, the effect on food expenditure and income could not be confirmed. Findings suggest a trade-off between coffee marketing and input supply functions of the cooperatives, impairing their true food security impact from the pooled income and production effect.

Characterization of Producer Institutional Arrangements in the Coffee Sector in Kenya and Policy Implications for Farmer Empowerment

Characterization of Producer Institutional Arrangements in the Coffee Sector in Kenya and Policy Implications for Farmer Empowerment Alice Nyawira Karuri-Okech, Dr. Florence Ondieki-Mwaura, Dr. Humphrey Omondi Opiyo Abstract The majority of coffee farmers in Kenya are members of coffee cooperatives. Studies on coffee farmers in Kenya therefore focus mainly on cooperatives. There are however cooperatives that are certified and those that are not certified. Additionally, coffee farmers with more than two hectares (approximately five acres) under coffee have the option of producing as coffee estates. This study had the aim of characterizing these three producer institutional arrangements in the coffee sector, in order to recommend policies for farmer empowerment that are specific to each arrangement. Characterization of the arrangements was done through an analysis of their organization, the activities, actors and processes engaged in and a cooperative profile. The study also detailed the demographic profile of respondents, including the age and gender of the respondents. An analysis of certification included the requirements, benefits and challenges of certification, as well as the awareness level of coffee certification among farmers. Finally, the study briefly looked at the collaboration among the producer institutional arrangements in coffee production and marketing. The study concludes with policy recommendations based on the dissimilarities found between the producer institutional arrangements. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jsspi.v6n1a3

Cooperative Agribusiness History: organizational aspects for internationalization and the Expocacce

The present study addresses the absence of strategic management and efficient coordination of activities, which currently is a common scenario for Brazilian agricultural cooperatives. If the cooperation enforces these elements, it results in capitalization for the cooperative and valuation of any Brazilian agricultural commodity for export. This study intends to present a strategy for product valuation employed by one of the main Brazilian coffee cooperatives in order to stand out among the national and international environment of coffee commercialization. Additionally, the process of strategic reorganization of the internal structure of the cooperative over time revealed that the cooperative adopted actions aimed at internationalization, which places our research object under theories of organization and Business History as a source of interpretation of this reading.

Between the local and the global: An analysis of economic tensions in cooperatives’ practices

Cooperatives help meet critical livelihood needs worldwide. This article seeks to provide an understanding of the potential of cooperatives to promote economic and social objectives by illuminating the tensions that cooperatives face at the nexus of local and global forces. To achieve this goal, this article draws on data from an 8-month qualitative case study of two coffee cooperatives in southern Costa Rica and focuses on the tensions experienced by the cooperatives in the economic realm. The research suggests that these tensions actually further the cooperatives’ economic objectives and are necessary for the cooperatives’ flourishing and growth.

A Two-Step Econometric Estimation of Covariates of Side Selling: The Case of Coffee Cooperatives in Southwest Ethiopia

Despite their apparent economic benefit to smallholder farmers, cooperatives are vulnerable to the problem of side selling. Using cross-sectional household data and Cragg’s regression model, we identified the determinants of side selling by coffee cooperative farmers in southwest Ethiopia. The bootstrapping technique was applied to extract average partial effects from the model coefficients. Certified, elder and educated farmers who have off-farm income and trust in the cooperative leadership have been found to side-sell significantly less. Nonetheless, cooperative group size and late payment favoured more side selling. Based on these findings, possible interventions are highlighted for improving cooperative members’ commitment and the performance of coffee cooperatives in the region.

Small farmer cooperatives and voluntary coffee certifications: Rewarding progressive farmers of engendering widespread change in Costa Rica?

Our research examines the benefits and drawbacks for cooperatives who participate in voluntary coffee certifications. We interviewed administrators at twenty Costa Rican coffee cooperatives about management practices related to voluntary certification. Voluntary certifications are popular among coffee cooperatives. Access to certified markets is facilitated by state support of the cooperative sector, regulation of the coffee sector and well-enforced environmental and social laws. However, there are no significant or consistent financial incentives for farmers to pursue certification. Multiple certifications may lower auditing and implementation costs, but cooperatives rarely receive the full premium for multiply-certified coffee. Low market demand for certified coffee, weak price incentives and high auditing and management costs encourage cooperatives to certify only a portion of their members. This strategy rewards compliant farmers rather than inducing widespread change to farming practices among the entire membership. Though financial incentives are weak, certifications offer non-financial benefits to both farmers and cooperatives, including better management and more resilient cooperatives.

Social Capital and Sustainable Coffee Certifications in Costa Rica

Social capital has many applications in the adoption and management of voluntary certifications such as Fair trade, Rainforest Alliance, Utz, and CAFE Practices. We used a mixed-methods approach to assess social capital in five Costa Rican coffee cooperatives. We applied this information to its effects on the management of sustainable coffee certifications We found that the level of social capital affects the manner in which cooperatives manage certifications in terms of incentivizing certified members, distributing the profits from certification, and cooperating with outside organizations. Generalized trust was found to have an important link with voluntary participation in Rainforest Alliance certification when no financial incentive was provided. However, given the small differences among the cooperatives in micro-scale social capital, we conclude that certifications have not or have not yet made great impacts on the social capital on the micro-scale. This research presents important considerations for employing certifications and other sustainable development projects in different national contexts.

Do coffee cooperatives benefit farmers? An exploration of heterogeneous impact of coffee cooperative membership in Southwest Ethiopia

Smallholder farmers’ participation in agricultural cooperatives is often promoted as a promising strategy for overcoming market imperfections and to increase farmers’ productivity and income. In recognition of this potential, in recent years, Ethiopia has shown renewed interest in promoting cooperatives. However, there is lack of empirical evidence of the impact that cooperatives have on farmers’ performance in Ethiopia. Using a matching technique, we evaluate the impact of coffee cooperatives on the performance of their member households in terms of income and coffee production. We use data from coffee farmers in south-west Ethiopia. The overall results suggest that members of cooperatives are not faring much better than non-members. The treatment effects we measured were not statistically significant from zero. Yet, the aggregate figures mask differences between cooperatives and amongst individual cooperative members. Average treatment effects on members differ between cooperatives, in general older members, those who have benefitted from more education and those with larger coffee plantations seem to benefit more from membership. Our analysis sheds light on the heterogeneity in the impact that membership of a cooperative can have: this differs by cooperative and by members within cooperatives, a finding that has important policy implications.

An Investigation on the Entrepreneurial Factors that Influence the Performance of Coffee Marketing Co-Operatives in Nyeri County

Agriculture is the backbone of many African economies. Co-operatives as marketing vehicles deliver the commodities to the market in return to gain the desired remuneration on behalf of the farmers. Co-operatives are responsible for 45 per cent of the GDP and 31 per cent of national savings and deposits. Agricultural co-operatives' total turnover was $112 million. They have 70 per cent of the coffee market, 76 per cent dairy, 90 per cent pyrethrum, and 95 per cent of cotton. The objective of the study was to determine the influence of entrepreneurial factors on the performance of coffee marketing cooperative societies in Nyeri County. The independent variables used in the research were marketing capabilities, environmental turbulence against the dependent variable of performance of coffee marketing societies. The study utilized descriptive survey. The target population was 23 coffee co-operatives in Nyeri County and the 23 general managers were the key informants in the study who responded to the questionnaires. The study revealed entrepreneurial factors such as marketing capabilities, environmental turbulence, and entrepreneurial orientation greatly influence the performance of coffee marketing co-operative society's profitability and growth in Nyeri County. The study recommends that all coffee marketing co-operative societies should strengthen entrepreneurial orientation capabilities and manage the coffee marketing environmental turbulence. The Nyeri co-operative County policy makers and planners should to put in place social-economic equity measures necessary to mitigate the declining global coffee prices that greatly influence the performance of coffee marketing co-operative societies to benefit the stakeholders in coffee industry as a whole. The research recommends further areas of factors retard their development is another important area for future research in coffee marketing co-operatives.

From Silent to Salient Stakeholders: A Study of a Coffee Cooperative and the Dynamic of Social Relationships

Theoretical and empirical research on stakeholder behavior tends to focus on specific actions or responses in the context of the organization–stakeholder relationship. Despite increased efforts to look beyond the dyadic organization–stakeholder relationship, research still favors the perspective of the focal organization. The taken-for-granted assumption of the organization–stakeholder relationship may limit our understanding of how organization–stakeholder linkages are formed and evolve over time. By adopting the perspective of the stakeholder, this article examines organization–stakeholder relationship formation and tracks changes in the salience of stakeholder groups otherwise considered to be nonstakeholders. This research draws from a case study of small coffee producers in Southern Mexico who formed a cooperative and developed salience within their stakeholder network after a long history of diverse individual, organizational, and institutional arrangements. The findings suggest that the replacement of bureaucratic stakeholder relationships (i.e., those based on inequality, transactions, and hierarchy) with relationships characterized by strong moral commitment to stakeholders’ claims (in this case, the improvement of the community’s economic and social welfare) enabled independent farmers to transform into an integrated, solid, and worldwide competitive group of coffee producers.

What Determines Women's Participation in Collective Action? Evidence from a Western Ugandan Coffee Cooperative

ABSTRACTWomen smallholders face greater constraints than men in accessing capital and commodity markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. Collective action has been promoted to remedy those disadvantages. Using survey data of 421 women members and 210 nonmembers of a coffee producer cooperative in Western Uganda, this study investigates the determinants of women's participation in cooperatives and women's intensity of participation. The results highlight the importance of access to and control over land for women to join the cooperative in the first place. Participation intensity is measured through women's participation in collective coffee marketing and share capital contributions. It is found that duration of membership, access to extension services, more equal intrahousehold power relations, and joint land ownership positively influence women's ability to commit to collective action. These findings demonstrate the embeddedness of collective action in gender relations and the positive value of women's active participation for agricultural-marketing cooperatives.

Fair Trade and Free Entry: Can a Disequilibrium Market Serve as a Development Tool?

Abstract The Fair Trade (FT) coffee initiative attempts to channel charity from consumers to poor producers via increased prices. We show that the rules of the FT system permit this rent to be eliminated due to free entry and costly excess certification of output. Using data from an association of coffee cooperatives in Central America, we verify that expected producer benefits are close to 0 when we take into account the output that is certified but not sold as FT. Our results illustrate how free entry undermines the attempt at extending charity via a price distortion in an otherwise competitive market.

Role of Human Resource Management in Governance on the Growth of Collective Entrepreneurship in the Agriculture Sector, Kenya

Agricultural cooperatives, as member-owned and controlled agribusiness enterprises play an important role in upgrading socio-economic status of members, however, they experience a myriad of hitches including mismanagement and inadequate innovation raising questions about quality of governance. The concern is legitimacy of boards, scanty expertise and effectiveness of managers in supervising and protecting members. They are practical example of collective entrepreneurship but pay little attention to entrepreneurship and seldom enhance their business dimensions through it for competitiveness. They decline in performance due to poor governance, weak capability building and human resource management practices. There is inadequate research on the role of human resource management in governance on the collective entrepreneurship in agriculture sector. The study sought to investigate the role of human resource management in governance on the growth of collective entrepreneurship in the agriculture sector. A descriptive research was adopted where multi-stage sampling technique and questionnaire was used to collect data from selected respondents in the coffee cooperatives in Kenya. Data were analysed using multiple regression statistical method. It was found that human resource management positively influence the growth of collective entrepreneurship and policy strongly mediates relationship between them. The study recommended implementation of strategic human resource management practice to enhance the agricultural cooperatives’ level of progress and performance since functional human resources management affected only individual performance and turnover. Key words : governance, human resource management, growth, collective entrepreneurship, agricultural cooperatives

Deconstructing homegardens: food security and sovereignty in northern Nicaragua

Development scholars and practitioners are promoting food security, food sovereignty, and the localization of food systems to prepare for the projected negative impacts of climate change. The implementation of biodiverse homegardens is often seen as a way not only to localize food production but also as a strategy in alignment with a food sovereignty agenda. While much scholarship has characterized and critiqued food security and sovereignty conceptualizations, relatively little research has examined people’s lived experiences in order to test how such theoretical visions play out on the ground in farming communities. Based on a case study of four coffee cooperatives in northern Nicaragua, we examine a non-governmental organization (NGO)-supported project promoting food security and sovereignty through development of homegardens. We ask: To what extent are homegardens an effective strategy to reach food sovereignty? And, why may farmers be resistant to changing their food production and consumption strategies to embrace biodiverse homegardens when they improve food security? We discuss characteristics of agroecological homegardens, the distinctions between food security, food sovereignty and dominant discourses of development, the history of food sovereignty in Nicaragua, and farmer perspectives on homegarden implementation. Despite historic critiques, NGOs are poised to facilitate the transformation of food and agricultural development by employing counter development strategies, a necessary step if homegardens are to be successful in the long term. To conclude, we propose some strategies NGOs and communities might pursue to move forward with homegardens as a food sovereignty strategy. This research suggests that a food sovereignty approach still rooted in mainstream development models faces significant obstacles to moving beyond food security and into a farmer-led food sovereignty agenda.