Incentives to Fair trade certification: the case of orange production in the State of Paraná, Brazil

Abstract

The authors believe that contemporary challenges related to sustainable rural development planning and food security are encouraging experiments with new models of rural development that includes Fair trade arrangements. The article is based on the outcomes of a case study of motivations to adopt these arrangements among orange cultivators located in the state of Paraná, in South Brazil. These arrangements are seen as an alternative, successful strategy for the small-scale farmers located in this area. The evidences confirm that the main impulse to make use of this kind of certification is related to expectations of improvements in quality of life for producers and their families. Regular access to markets was assumed as one important economic feature. From the environmental perspective the certification process allows too for coherent enforcement of the established regulations and also for the strengthening of so-called “good practices”. Otherwise, monitoring reveals the emergence of several obstacles due to cultural factors and to working contingencies. Bureaucratic control of the certification dynamics was considered rather as a positive factor of improvement of the whole productive system.