Fairtrade – Global study on banana production externalities
Client
Fairtrade International is a multi-stakeholder association with 3 producer networks, 25 local (Fairtrade) organisations, and an overarching independent certification body called FLOCERT. As brand influencer, Fairtrade communicates the value of externalities to stakeholders at retail and consumer level.
Project description
With the help of Impact Institute, Fairtrade International wanted to gain more insight into the environmental and social externalities of banana production in order to define priority areas for improvements and evaluate the impact of their own projects.
We conducted a global study examining the externalities of certified and conventional banana production in four countries: Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Peru. Trusted local contacts collected data on both social and environmental impacts, including underpayment, harassment, climate, land use, pollution and many other impact areas. The results were broken down per country, between smallholders and plantations, and based on certification status. Additionally, the living wage gap difference was calculated for hired workers, and living income gap for smallholders.
Benefits to the client
This study gave Fairtrade International insight into the materiality of external costs of certified bananas compared to the sector on a global scope. This allowed them to shape their strategies for supporting producer organizations. Furthermore, the results of our work can be used in communication strategies to stakeholders, for instance if Fairtrade International wants to prove the urge to take action to solve key supply chain issues.
*The customer was working with Impact Institute under its former name, True Price
