Rural development and internationalization through networks of Fair Trade Coffee. A case study.

Inequalities in global development invalidate the usefulness of the dominant paradigms of international trade, and the agricultural is one of the most affected sectors. The Fair Trade contributes to achieving the objectives of a progressive local development guided by considerations of social, environmental and economic sustainability. Thus the aim of this work is to investigate the contribution of Fair Trade on local development in coffee-producing agricultural areas in developing countries. The methodology used is the case study of four Fair Trade cooperatives. It was found that all of them met the principles of Fair Trade and that there were local changes in the economic, social and environmental spheres.