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In year 2001, a number of significant changes for cooperatives and coffee marketing came together to offer the potential to create a cooperative marketing channel within the coffee sector. The government recognized the serious problems that the coffee cooperatives faced and permitted them to sell directly to buyers without going through the auction. This open the door for new coffee value chain where cooperative sell directly their coffee to specialty market. Fairtrade is one of the specialty markets where cooperatives get certification and sell their produce to Fairtrade certified organizations. Hence, this study will also useful to examine the preliminary information about the effects of Fairtrde certification on income of members of cooperatives in the study area. The result of this study will be used by Developmental agent organizations and policy makers. It can be also serve as a reference material to further research.

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Wubshet Chala, MSc: studied Agricultural Economics at Haramaya University and Economics at Bahir Dar University.Lecturer at Arbaminchi University, Arbaminch

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