The Fair tracing project: Digital tracing technology and Indian coffee

Contemporary South Asia

Volumn 16, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 217-230

  Chopra, Ashima ^a   Kundu, Apurba ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COFFEE; INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY; INFORMATION; PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT; RESEARCH WORK;

ASIA; EURASIA; INDIA; SOUTH ASIA;

EID: 47249085070     PISSN: 09584935     EISSN: 1469364X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09584930701733548     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. EPSRC web site, 5 http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/4, accessed 1 June 2007.
2. What is a Sandpit?, EPSRC, 5 http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ ResearchFunding/Programmes/Cross-EPSRCActivities/IDEASFactory/ PastTopicsAndOutcomes.htm4, accessed 1 June 2007.
3. Past Topics and Outcomes, EPSRC, 5 http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ ResearchFunding/Programmes/Cross-EPSRCActivities/IDEASFactory/ PastTopicsAndOutcomes.htm4, accessed 1 June 2007.
4. Ibid.
5. By summer 2007, Dr Ian Brown had moved to the University of Oxford, Dorothea Kleine to Royal Holloway University of London, and Dr Ann Light to Sheffield Hallam University.
6. The Fair Tracing Project, 5 http://www.fairtracing.org4, accessed 1 June 2007.
7. Fair Tracing: Empowering Producers and Consumers by Providing Enriched Information about the Roots of Goods and Services, EPSRC, (http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/E009018/1), accessed 1 June 2007.
8. Fair Tracing Project, op cit, Ref 6.
9. A Bachelors degree in Communication, Marketing and Management from Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, North Carolina, USA, and an M.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Bradford, UK.
10. M.Sc. in Computing from the University of Bradford, UK.
11. See, for example, R. Kaplinsky, 'Competitions policy and the global coffee and cocoa chains', paper presented at the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva, Switzerland, May 2004.
12. Ibid.
13. See, for example, R. Fitter and R. Kaplinsky, Who Gains from Product Rents as the Coffee Market Becomes More Differentiated? A Value Chain Analysis (Brighton: University of Sussex, Institute of Development Studies: Bulletin Paper, May 2001).
14. While coffee was traded for hard currency in many least-developed countries, agreements such as the International Coffee Agreement and institutions like the Marketing Boards of coffee-producing countries protected and oversaw the interests of coffee-growers through agreed quotas, hedging or withholding supply from the common market. See also S. Ponte, 'Standards and sustainability in the coffee sector', United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Copenhagen: Danish Institute for International Studies, May 2004).
15. Ibid.
16. Fitter and Kaplinsky, op cit, Ref 13.
17. This could now be done with new technology through steaming coffee beans, which made inferior-quality robustas lose their bitter flavour.
18. See, for example, Kaplinsky, op cit, Ref 11
19. J.M. Talbot, 'Where does your coffee dollar go? The division of income and surplus along the coffee commodity chain', Studies in Comparative International Development, Vol 32, No 1, Spring 1997, pp 56-91.
20. Talbot, ibid.
21. See, for example, C. Gresser and S.Tickell, Mugged: Poverty in Your Cup (Oxford: Oxfam: 2002).
22. See, for example, A. Tallontire and B. Vorley, 'Achieving fairness in trading between supermarkets and their agrifood chains', UK food group briefing, London, September 2005; L. Venkatachlam, 'Perspectives on sustainability and globalization and the challenges for the coffee sector', International Coffee Organisation Conference Proceedings Report (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 23-25 September 2005)
23. B. Shepard, Market Power in International Commodity Processing Chains: Preliminary Results from the Coffee Market (Paris: Group d'Economie Mondiale de Sciences Po, March 2004)
24. B. Mace, Global Commodity Chains, Alternative Trade and Small-scale Coffee Production in Oaxaca, Mexico (Oxford, OH: Miami University, 1998).
25. R. Kaplinsky, Mainstreaming Quality to Enhance Profitability: An Agenda for Action in the Coffee Sector (London: International Coffee Organisation, October 2002).
26. See, for example, United Nations, Coffee: An Exporter's Guide (New York: International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO, 2002)
27. R. Kaplinsky and R. Fitter, 'Technology and globalisation: Who gains when commodities are decommodified?', International Journal of Technology and Globalisation, Vol 1, No 1, June 2004, pp 5-28.
28. Kaplinsky and Fitter, ibid.
29. Fitter and Kaplinsky, op cit, Ref 13.
30. Coffee Board of India, 5 http://indiacoffee.org/4, accessed 1 June 2007.
31. Based on talks with coffee and tea producers and official statistics quoted by officials of the Coffee Board of India.
32. From data obtained during my field trip to India in winter 2007 (see below).
33. See S.Y. Deodhar and V. Pandey Degree of Instant Competitiveness: Estimation of Market Power in India's Instant Coffee Market (Ahmedabad: Indian Institute of Management: Working Paper, October 2006).
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid.
37. N. Osorio, Coffee Market Report: Letter from the Executive Director, International Coffee Organisation (London: International Coffee Organisation, February 2007).
38. Coffee Board of India, op cit, Ref 26.
39. See S. Srinivas 'Technical standards and economic development: Meeting the most common denominator', paper prepared for the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Vienna: UNIDO, 2005).
40. See E. Golan, K. Krissoff, F. Kuchler, K. Nelson and G. Price, Traceability in the U.S. Food Supply: Economic Theory and Industry Studies (Washington, DC: US Development Agency and Economic Research Service: Agricultural Economic Report No. AER830, March 2004).
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid.
43. Fitter and Kaplinsky, op cit, Ref 13.
44. John Farrington (series editor), Key Sheet for Sustainable Livelihoods: Commodity Supply Chains (London: DFID, November 2003).
45. Such as tracking use of inferior quality beans used in blends through the 'steaming' process mentioned earlier.
46. This is vital since over-production and a surplus amount of coffee in the market can only be consumed, and price controlled, through creation of new markets and additional demand that traceability assists in fostering.
47. By informing consumers of the localized characteristics of the commodity and the surroundings it comes from, or any such attributes.
48. It can connect the micro with the macro and see where the linkages are, how best to place them and at what level for maximization of specific returns.
49. Venketachalam, op cit, Ref 21.
50. All of the views and opinions expressed in this section are the sole responsibility of Ashima Chopra, and do not necessarily reflect those of other members of the Fair Tracing team, either individually or as a whole.