Ameaças à certificação fair-trade na cafeicultura

Abstract

There is significant growth in the adoption of the Fair Trade certification program and in the marketing of coffee products under this seal, which initially aimed to create opportunities to empower small producers and coffee consumers, through the dissemination of information related to these products. However, sometimes the increase in its adoption and volume of sales in retail, especially in developed countries does not generate the expected returns on the price paid for the product. In this way, through qualitative and descriptive research, the authors conducted a comprehensive review of specialized literature, aiming to understand the main features of this program and the main constraints and threats that arise within this practice in the coffee production chain. They observed that, among the main threats to certifications (especially Fair Trade), is the mainstreaming process, namely adoption and use by large corporations, which could weaken its standards in order to keep their pricing and trading practices. To understand these threats and to analyze critically the adoption of Fair-Trade certification, farmers, cooperatives, and associations must adopt a series of key strategies. It is clear that certifying agencies, in general, must act in order to balance or neutralize the disadvantages that may be caused by the mainstreaming movement in the coffee chain, by communicating certification procedures to producers more clearly and directly.