"El comericio justo es mucho mas que comprar y vender café”. In the words of a producer: Fair trade is more than just buying & selling coffee. Fair trade is a way to help reduce poverty every time we shop; it is practical action and a campaign towards building a better world.
According to the UN, one billion people still live on less than $1 a day. Current international trade rules & practices have contributed to the growing income gap between rich and poor both between and within countries. Fair trade is a direct way for consumers in richer countries like the UK to interact with producers in some of the poorest parts of the world and to help them overcome the obstacles of international trade rules, by ensuring a fair wage and acceptable working conditions.
2. Every Product Makes a Difference
“We are building, little by little, a different world based on human relationships. It is a permanent process” - Nelly Canepa & Maria del Carmen de la Fuenta from Allpa, Peru.
In comparison with all the world's commerce, fair trade is currently tiny. According to the Fairtrade Foundation, sales of Fairtrade certified products in the UK reached £500million in 2007, which is less than a quarter of the organic market by comparison. However, it is growing rapidly (doubling in size every two years), awareness is strong (e.g. 57% aware of the certification in the UK) and the quality & range of fair trade products now huge and better than ever (over 3000 Fairtrade certified products currently available). Over 7 million farmers, workers & their direct family members are already benefiting. Each and every fair trade product sold has an inspirational story of it's direct benefit to workers & their families in some of the poorest communities in the world.
3. Trade, Not Aid
"We are not asking for help, we want people to feel good about our chocolate. We're the very best. That's what is important." - Ohemeng Tonyase from Kuapa Kokoo cocoa collective in Ghana.
By trading with people in many of the poorest communities of the world, fair trade reduces reliance on charity and fosters long-term development and independence. Fair trade is an investment in society that enables marginalised members of the community to have access to world markets. Long-term contracts and the growth of fair trade overall ensure that the benefits continue to multiply.
4. Envinronmental Sustainability
"Aren't you afraid to eat chocolate?" - worker on a cocoa plantation in Brazil
Cotton and cocoa receive heavier doses of agrochemicals that any other crop, including many of the most powerful and dangerous pesticides. Studies by Friends of the Earth in the past few years have identified that many of these remain in through to the final product. It is bad enough to think of the impact this has on the health of consumers but, with health & safety regulation often weaker in developing countries, it is the workers and producers that suffer the most.
In contrast, fair trade farms rely mainly on natural and organic methods and fair trade criteria requires sustainable production and positive environmental policies including protecting workers from harmful agrochemicals. Producers are predominantly rural, using high proportion of recylced products and handmade processes in production and packaging, with transportation predominantly via land & sea.
5. Quality
"Through Fairtrade, we have been able to change our agricultural techniques to improve the quality of our teas." - Silver Kasoro-Atwoki from the Mabale Growers Tea Factory in Uganda.
Rather than having to sell to powerful middlemen and the entire transaction being focused on lowering the price, fair trade producers are able to have a longer-term and more equal partnership with buyers: often through co-owernership structures such as at Divine Chocolate and Cafe Direct. This relationship leads to greater investment in production quality and organisational improvements such as important training and product development.
Because Fair Trade producers have a genuine stake in their product through self-ownership structures and funding of social benefits through the Fairtrade premium, there is huge pride and a great additional incentive to ensure the quality of the end product.
