Exploring the potential of intersectoral partnerships to improve the position of farmers in global agrifood chains: findings from the coffee sector in Peru Verena Bitzer • Pieter Glasbergen • Bas Arts Accepted: 2 March 2012 / Published online: 19 May 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract Despite their recent proliferation in global agricultural commodity chains, little is known about the potential of intersectoral partnerships to improve the position of smallholder farmers and their organizations. This article explores the potential of partnerships by developing a conceptual approach based on the sustainable livelihoods and linking farmers to market perspectives, which is applied in an exploratory study to six partnerships in the coffee sector in Peru. It is concluded that partner- ships stimulate the application of standards to receive market access and therefore emphasize human capital development of farmers to facilitate certification. By transferring knowledge to farmers, partnerships present a new source of technological change, which, in combination with certification, holds potential for improved environ- mental management and price premiums for producers. However, the emphasis on certification results in a com- paratively narrow target group of farmers and is associated with high financial burdens for producer organizations. At the same time, other assets of producer organizations are often not strengthened sufficiently for them to operate successfully without further external support. This suggests that preparing producers for certification is prioritized over empowering organizations toward self-dependence. Keywords Intersectoral partnerships Á Coffee Á Peru Á Producer organizations Á Assets Á Market linkages Introduction Over the last decade, intersectoral partnerships between actors from market, state, and/or civil society domains have emerged as potentially important mechanisms for address- ing global challenges related to sustainable development (Glasbergen 2007). Particularly in fragmented agrifood chains connecting Southern producers with Northern con- sumers, partnerships have experienced considerable prolif- eration over recent years and are expected simultaneously to serve business and development interests (Van Tulder and Fortanier 2009; Bitzer and Glasbergen 2010). Through the use of market-based incentives, partnerships are conceived and promoted as win–win initiatives that can achieve inclusive growth, empower smallholder farmers, and establish efficient value chains (Gregoratti 2011). Their popularity is such that by now there is hardly any public policy document on agricultural commodities that can afford not to mention the importance of partnerships for ‘‘addressing commodity-related problems’’ (Common Fund for Commodities 2008, p. 17) and ‘‘promoting sustainability in international commodity markets’’ (IISD et al. 2008, p. 7). While the donor discourse tends to emphasize the potential of partnerships to improve the position of small- holder farmers and their organizations in global agrifood chains through the mechanism of setting standards and V. Bitzer (&) Management Studies Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, The Netherlands e-mail: verena.bitzer@wur.nl P. Glasbergen Department of Innovation and Environmental Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands e-mail: p.glasbergen@uu.nl B. Arts Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands e-mail: bas.arts@wur.nl 123 Agric Hum Values (2013) 30:5–20 DOI 10.1007/s10460-012-9372-z