• Login
    View Item 
    •   OpenDocs Home
    • Institute of Development Studies Research Repository
    • IDS Research
    • View Item
    •   OpenDocs Home
    • Institute of Development Studies Research Repository
    • IDS Research
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Can an Agricultural "Commodity" be De-Commodified, and if so, Who is to Gain?

    Thumbnail
    Download
    Main article (513.6Kb)
    Date
    2002-01-25
    Author
    Fitter, Robert
    Kaplinsky, Raphael
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Impact
    Abstract
    The weakness of redistributional mechanisms, both globally and within developing economies, makes it imperative to directly enhance the productive incomes of poor people. Coffee farmers, generally located in the poorest countries, have suffered especially badly in recent years, and farm gate and internationally traded bean prices are now at historically low levels. At the same time, though, global coffee consumers are becoming more discerning. With at least as much potential taste variety as in the case of wine, final product prices are becoming more differentiated. Margins for some coffees can therefore be expected to increase significantly as consumers become more discriminating in their tastes. But who is to gain from these more differentiated prices? Analysis shows that whilst the price spread is growing in global trading markets, it is simultaneously narrowing at the farm gate. At the same time, the destruction of coffee marketing boards (largely as a result of Structural Adjustment Programmes) has had unintended effects: instead of their margins accruing to farmers, almost all of these margins are being absorbed in the high-income importing countries. Thus, left to market forces, the likelihood is that farmers will gain little from increasingly discriminating final consumer tastes. Instead it is the global branders and the supermarket chains who are likely to appropriate these growing product rents. However, if consumers can be educated to recognise that better coffees are directly linked to their place of origin rather than to their brand names, a more equal global distribution of income is likely to emerge in this value chain. This paper ends with a discussion of which stakeholders may be involved in educating final consumer tastes in an appropriate manner.
    URI
    https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/13851
    Citation
    Fitter, R. and Kaplinsky, R. (2002) Can an Agricultural "Commodity" be De-Commodified, and if so, Who is to Gain? IDS Discussion Paper 380, Brighton: IDS
    Is part of series
    IDS Discussion Paper;380
    Rights holder
    Institute of Development Studies
    Rights details
    http://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/IDSOpenDocsStandardTermsOfUse.pdf
    Collections
    • IDS Research [1594]

    About OpenDocs | OpenDocs Policy | Help | Contact Us | Send Feedback | Disclaimer and Cookies
     

     

    Browse

    All of OpenDocsCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    About OpenDocs | OpenDocs Policy | Help | Contact Us | Send Feedback | Disclaimer and Cookies