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- Convenor:
-
Carlos Oya
(SOAS University of London)
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- Location:
- C2.05
- Start time:
- 28 June, 2013 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
The panel aims to explore the dynamics of accumulation and survival associated with agricultural export production through wage employment. The panel is particularly interested in papers with evidence on the impact of certification schemes on labour market dynamics and working conditions.
Long Abstract:
Hundreds of millions of people around the world are involved in producing agricultural commodities for export. Growth, stagnation or decline in agricultural commodity exports have serious implications for the dynamics of agrarian change and of local labour markets, generally for poor people in rural areas, and especially for casual wage workers who are affected by the dynamics of production and institutional change associated with particular commodities in concrete contexts.
To protect agricultural producers, who face volatile global market prices, a range of new certification schemes and codes of practice has been devised. However, too little is known about the impact of these initiatives at the local level, especially for those at the bottom of the chain working as casual wage labourers. The panel has a special interest in understanding better the comparative benefits/disadvantages of different institutional arrangements for agricultural production for poor rural people needing access to wage employment. Fairtrade, in particular, and other certification schemes are based on claims that, directly or indirectly, they reduce poverty. However, there has been little research on the impact on the poorest households of certified production, relative to non-certified production, or on the living standards of women dependent on wage employment in agricultural commodity production. This is particularly the case for casual and seasonal wage labourers working for smallholders, who, contrary to conventional wisdom, employ substantial numbers of workers in labour-intensive farming for exports. The panel calls for papers that can contribute to fill these gaps.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Liesbeth Colen (KU Leuven)
Paper short abstract:
Using original panel data from surveys among workers and companies in Senegal’s horticulture export industry in Senegal, we analyze how GlobalGAP certification of exporter-producer companies affects employment conditions. Certification is associated with higher wages and longer employment periods.
Paper long abstract:
There is a growing body of literature that analyzes the implications of private food standards for developing countries. Most of this literature has focused on the trade effects of standards and on the effects for exporters and producers. Very few studies have looked at the effect of standards for workers in export supply chains - although this is especially important for poverty reduction. This paper analyzes the effects of private standards in horticulture export supply chains on the largest group of people affected: those participating as wage laborers. We focus on the effects of GlobalGAP certification, which is the most important private standard in African horticulture exports. We combine information from exporter interviews, secondary export statistics and a panel of household survey data from the main horticulture export zone in Senegal, Les Niayes. Using cross-section and panel data analysis, we estimate the effects of GlobalGAP certification of exporter-producer companies on the employment conditions of workers in these companies. We find that GlobalGAP certification creates important benefits for workers in the form of higher wages and longer employment periods, while contract security is not found to be better in certified companies. We put forward different explanations for the mechanism through which these effects on employment conditions could emerge, of which improved competitiveness of certified firms and the increased need for worker training are argued to be the most important ones.
Carlos Oya (SOAS University of London) Christopher Cramer (SOAS)
Paper short abstract:
Using original data from surveys among workers and companies in Uganda and Ethiopia, we analyze how Fair Trade certification of exporter-producer companies affects employment conditions in coffee, tea and flower sectors.
Paper long abstract:
This paper explains the rationale behind a research project on Fair Trade, Employment and Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia and Uganda; briefly summarises the methodology; and introduces initial findings from two rounds of a large quantitative survey and from more than 100 detailed working life biographies of rural wage workers. The authors argue that neither the champions of Fair Trade nor its most vocal detractors have shown much understanding of the mechanisms and distributional implications of certified coffee (Ethiopia and Uganda), flower (Ethiopia) and tea (Uganda) production and trade. The paper shows how some of these mechanisms operate and what their distributional outcomes are, while also arguing that it is impossible to understand Fair Trade, or the cooperatives through which it often works, without embedding the analysis in the wider political economy of local and national contexts.
Muhaimina Said-Allsopp
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the effect of certification on experiences of women workers within Kenyan Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance certified tea plantations. Grounded within empirical data, it proposes recommendations for targeting interventions via standards through an empowerment lens.
Paper long abstract:
This paper seeks to understand how certification schemes translate into working experiences by comparing experiences of women employed in a Fairtrade to a Rainforest Alliance certified tea plantation. It further links the workplace and household levels to investigate how women's paid employment has impacted on household dynamics and structures and whether standards can help empower women workers. This paper draws from in-depth interviews with 238 women workers employed by a 'best practice' firm within the Kenyan tea industry.
Given the prominence of standards in recent campaigns and literature on export crops, one would expect them to have stimulated changes in the lives of workers. Yet, recent studies have found that, while standards have been successful in facilitating outcomes (e.g. by tackling health and safety issues), they have had limited impact in tackling process rights. Outcome standards offer opportunities for compliance without having to upset the status quo, thereby challenging neither embedded labour relations nor social norms. Process rights however, involve workers and workers' organisations getting a seat at the table when negotiating for rights, a significantly different process from current labour relations and which has the potential to challenge the social norms that underlie the production process. Outcome standards offer limited opportunities for incremental changes while process rights offer opportunities for transformative change and empowerment.
By drawing from women's accounts of their experiences and their conceptualisation of empowerment, this paper concludes with recommendations for targeting value chain interventions via certification schemes in order to enhance outcome standards and process rights.