FAIRTRADE

In the twenty-first century foodstuffs are traded on a global scale and it is an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Some countries rely on just a few different crops to produce the majority of their wealth, and this is a risky business and here’s why.

Because farmers have to compete with other farmers growing the same thing world-wide they can’t just charge the first price they think of. They have to match everyone else, or the ‘world market price’. That price changes, and it can fall especially if it’s a good year for tea, coffee or fruit.

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Fairtrade tea plantation, Malawi

Image provided by the Fairtrade Foundation ©Anette Kay

Everyone deserves payment for a job well done! Fairtrade foodstuffs have been bought from the producer at a fixed agreed price that is equal to the market price plus a bit more, called the ‘social premium’.

Fairtrade bananas

How does this help farmers? It allows them to plan ahead as they know they have a buyer for their crops and what its value will be. What is the extra cash spent on? Money can be passed onto workers that the farmer employs, giving them a decent wage, but it can also be spent on machinery that make the farm or packing factory a safer place to work.

Watch this video from Riverford Farm. They visited their organic banana growers in the Dominican Republic to find out first hand how they grow bananas and how Fairtrade helps them.

The Makaibari Tea Estate in Darjeeling, India, lies at 1300 meters (4265 ft) above sea level – the height of the UK’s top peak, Ben Nevis – in the foothills of the Himalayas. Within its boundaries are seven villages where the eight hundred estate workers and their families live. The extra cash from fair trade has funded a whole host of community projects to improve the lives of people who live there including training for midwives to help mothers and their newborn babies. There is now a library with computers on the estate. Electricity has been brought to all of the villages along with toilets that flush have been introduced. In addition, local residents who want to start a business, improve their home or go back to school can borrow money to do so at very little cost.

Darjeeling

Fairtrade farmers are encouraged to take a greater interest in the effects their farming has on the environment. Fairtrade banana farmers in the Dominican Republic, for example, organise regular clean ups of the plastic bags used to protect growing bananas that are seen lying around on farms, roads and in rivers.

Gerardo Camacho, a coffee farmer in Costa Rica makes the case for Fairtrade being greener: “We have planted trees and reduced the amount of pesticides we use by 80% in the last ten years. We’ve used the Fairtrade premium to buy environmentally friendly ovens to dry our coffee. These are powered by coffee skins and macadamia nutshells, which mean we no longer need to cut up to 50 acres of forest every year.”

Gerardo Camacho, Costa Rica

Image provided by the Fairtrade Foundation ©Eduardo Martino

Perhaps most importantly, Fairtrade farms are not allowed to employ children, which means they can keep going to school, like the one below in Mali, to learn about the world, just like you.

School in Mali, funded through Fairtrade Premium

Image provided by the Fairtrade Foundation ©TrevorLeighton2012

You can see the Fairtrade mark on many products such as honey, chocolate, tea, fruit and coffee. Look out for it on your next trip to the supermarket. It’s only fair!

Fairtrade products

Image provided by the Fairtrade Foundation