Summary
This paper examines the impact of fair trade and organic certification on productivity and costs for black pepper farmers in India. Data was collected from 277 smallholders in Kerala, representing organic certified, joint organic and fair trade certified, and non-certified farmers. Multinomial endogenous switching regression, followed by counterfactual analysis are used to ascertain the effects of certification. The results show that certified farmers produce higher yields, with expected yield increases of 35% if conventional farmers become certified. For less successful farmers, it is found that joint organic and fair trade certification has the greatest effect on productivity.