Epsilon Open Archive

Abstract

The relationship between Southern producers and Northern consumers in organic agriculture is impoverished. Although producers and consumers are actually connected through lengthy commodity chains, there is generally a strong sense of felt disconnection. They do not feel part of the same system. People in the chain lack physical presence for one another: they exist in the realm of ideas, if at all. In order to find ways of creating quality relationships between producers and consumers, the emerging agenda of social certification in organic agriculture is examined. A quality of life toolkit, which is capable of capturing the needs and aspirations of smallholders and plantation workers, is developed in order to contribute a new ‘bottom-up’ methodological approach to the process of social certification. Extensive research with organic smallholders and plantation workers was carried out in Madagascar in the development of the toolkit. The concept of a new social label that could be applied to organic products is also explored. Such a label could be validated by data and information produced by the quality of life toolkit during the process of social certification. The prototype label that is developed occupies quite different ground to labels dealing with the conditions of production, or trading relationships, or international labour standards. Attention is paid to the values and aspirations that producers actually hold. The aim is to ensure that these are supported, rather than eroded, through the process of production for the Northern market. An important feature of the label is its ability to acknowledge and build upon the ethical values held by the consumer. Research based on surveys, interviews, and focus groups was carried out in Germany in order to assess the receptiveness of organic consumers to such a label in the context of their own ethical lifeworlds. The thesis concludes that social labelling invites actors in organic producer to consumer chains to engage in a richer and more meaningful relationship that extends the realm of legitimate values included in the market exchange of products.