Integrating development and environmental sustainability through fair trade: a case study of cocoa, vanilla and ginger producers in Samoa

Abstract

There is abundant literature documenting the tension between development and environmental sustainability (Pearce et al. 1989; Murphree 1991; Agrawal and Gibson 1999; Van Gisburgen 2003; Pathak et al. 2005). Intimate links between development, environmental degradation and poverty call for the integration in the practice of development and environmental sustainability. It has been argued that the international Fair Trade movement has had some degree of success at integrating development and environmental sustainability by providing primary producers with access to a liveable income and channels for community participation under a system that stipulates sustainable methods of production (Raynolds 2000). This thesis examines the potential of Fair Trade Labelling Organisation (FLO) certification in integrating environmental sustainability and development through the case study of Women in Business Development Inc. (WIBDI), a non-governmental organisation in Samoa seeking Fair Trade certification for its member farmers who produce cocoa, ginger and vanilla. My main findings are: WIBDI producers are already engaging in sustainable agriculture through their participation in an organic certification program; producers aspire to improve their livelihoods by remaining in the agricultural sector but finding new market channels to increase their income; Fair Trade can be a potential driver in further integrating environmental sustainability and development. However, there are also numerous barriers to gaining certification as well as several incompatibilities between the FLO certification system and the Samoan cultural and socioeconomic reality. I suggest that there is potential for Fair Trade to better integrate development and environmental sustainability through the decentralisation of certification operations to make them more appropriate to local social, cultural and ecological conditions and improve access to certification for marginalised producers.