Does Eco-Certification have Environmental Benefits? Organic Coffee in Costa Rica

We find that organic certification improves coffee growers’ environmental performance. It significantly reduces chemical input use and increases adoption of some environmentally friendly management practices.

Eco-certification of coffee, timber and other high-value agricultural commodities is increasingly widespread. In principle, it can improve commodity producers’ environmental performance, even in countries where state regulation is weak. However, evidence needed to evaluate this hypothesis is virtually nonexistent. To help fill this gap, we use detailed farm-level data to analyze the environmental impacts of organic coffee certification in central Costa Rica. We use propensity score matching to control for self-selection bias. We find that organic certification improves coffee growers’ environmental performance. It significantly reduces chemical input use and increases adoption of some environmentally friendly management practices.

EfD Authors

Dr. Allen Blackman Research Fellow
MSc. Maria Angelica Naranjo Deputy Director and Research Fellow

Keywords

Files

Download pdf 260.9 kB

Centers

central america

Type of publication

COMMONS
EfD Discussion paper

Reference

Blackman, Allen and Maria A. Naranjo (2010) Does Eco-Certification Have Environmental Benefits? Organic Coffee in Costa Rica. Environment for Development. Discussion Paper Series. November 2010. EfD DP 10-25.

Environment for Development

Environment for Development