Impacto gerado pela adoção da certificação fairtrade para produtores de café: uma análise sobre a ótica econômica e social

Abstract

The coffee production has a very important highlight in the Brazilian economy. In addition, the coffee consumption around the world has a constant growth (even with decreasing rates). Therefore, there is an importance to look at this production with cautio us perspectives. In view of large part of the commodity produced comes from small producers, thus there is a social and economic concern on the lives of these people. According to Polanyi (1944) after the industrial revolution and the adoption of the self-regulating market, workers leave their culture aside and become part of the system through economic capital. In this way, the purpose of the economy is no longer subsistence and its objective is profit. As a result, society begins to face levels of poverty once it becomes polarized. However, for any successful economic movement, Polanyi (1944) claims that there is a countermovement of social protection. It is stated in this research that for the protection of small coffee producers the movement (or capitalist countermovement) of fair trade (FT) was created. FT is a certification that aims to protect small and medium producers from the conventional trading system. This certification claims to have several benefits for the life quality of those who produce certified products. However, as an objective in this work, the question is which is the social and economic impact that FT certification brings to the lives of coffee producers? In order to investigate this impact, a case study was carried out with a sample o f producers from COOPFAM cooperative (Cooperative of Family Farmers from Poço Fundo). Survey questionnaires were applied in addition to bibliographic research. It was found that the impact of FT certification on the life of this sample was positive, since there was an increase in the life quality, the coffee produced and development in the community.