MARKET ACCESS, ORGANIC FARMING AND PRODUCTIVITY: THE DETERMINANTS OF CREATION OF ECONOMIC VALUE ON A SAMPLE OF FAIR TRADE AFFILIATED THAI FARMERS

We analyse the impact of Fair Trade and organic farming on a sample of Fair Trade rice producers in Thailand. We find that per capita income from agriculture is positively and significantly affected by organic certification and FT affiliation years. This effect does not translate into higher productivity due to a concurring increase in worked hours. The estimated FT and organic certification contributions are however downward biased if we do not take into account the relatively higher share of selfconsumption of affiliated farmers. Our main findings are robust when we control for selection bias and endogeneity with instrumental variables, when using propensity score matching and restricting the sample to affiliated producers only. We also test which of the two (organic and FT) effects is stronger and find that the latter prevails.organic production, Fair Trade, productivity