Why is it important?

“Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world”, Martin Luther King

The lives of farmers half way across the Earth may seem like an issue that doesn’t affect you, but it does. You rely on countless numbers of people from across the world to produce the products you consume.

If the price of commodities such as coffee falls, the effects on the millions of producers can be crippling. Although the prices paid for commodities such as coffee has not fallen in real terms over the last forty years, the costs of fertilisers, pesticides and machinery have risen. Farmers have to work longer and harder in order to make a living. When you bear in mind that the market price of these commodities often falls below the cost of producing them, it’s clear that the farmers are getting a raw deal.

How does Fairtrade work?

Fairtrade works in two ways. Growers of, for example, coffee and cocoa tend to work independently on their own land and market their produce with local co-operatives, for farmers such as this fairtrade works to guarantee a fair price. Growers of tea, for example often work on large estates, fairtrade guarantees these workers good wages, the right to join trade unions and housing (where relevant). Both share the common principles of minimum health and safety standards as well as environmentally sound practices.

There exist two main groups, The International Federation for Alternative Trade (IFAT) and Fair Trade Labelling Organisations International (FLO), these exist to push the fairtrade ideal across the world. The UK based Fairtrade Foundation is a founding member of the FLO, when you see their mark (which is now becoming standard in 17 countries across the World), you can be sure your helping to provide a brighter future for disadvantaged farmers.

You may find that fairtrade products cost more than non-fairtrade products. This is simply because more money goes to the people that have produced that product at a primary level. Premiums are paid on top of the normal price of produce to allow for fairtrade standards to be upheld. So you are paying more, but you are getting more for your money!

Images courtesy of The Fairtrade Foundation