What’s the problem?
World market prices for commodity crops such as coffee, sugar and rice are highly volatile, often falling below the costs of production. Between 1970 and 2000, prices for some of the main agricultural exports of poorer countries fell by between 30 and 60 per cent.[1] The reasons for this are complex, and related to unfair rules governing international trade, which oblige many poorer countries to open their own markets to imports while producing goods for export. According to Oxfam, this means that:
“Poor farmers are faced with falling crop prices, a falling share of the retail price of produce they sell, competing goods from rich countries dumped on their markets at subsidised prices, and a lack of meaningful access to those countries’ markets for their own produce.”[2]
The consequences can be devastating for both small-scale producers and agricultural labourers. With few – if any – other employment opportunities open to them, and no welfare state to fall back on, many small farmers are unable to afford basic necessities such as food for their families, healthcare, and education for their children. Labourers on plantations fare little better, often facing gruelling hours, low pay, no job security, unpleasant or downright dangerous living and working conditions, sexual harassment and serious health problems resulting from the use of hazardous pesticides. Many plantation workers have been prevented from joining trade unions by intimidation and sometimes even physical violence.
Fairtrade and well-being
Buying Fairtrade products is about improving the well-being and livelihoods of agricultural producers and labourers in poorer countries, by improving trading relationships and so ensuring better working conditions, greater access to healthcare and a higher standard of living. Buying Fairtrade products is one way to help people out of the cycle of poverty and illness.
What can we do about it?
Since the Fairtrade Mark was first introduced to the UK in 1994, the UK market for Fairtrade products has gone from strength to strength. Sales of Fairtrade products in the UK exceeded £1 billion in 2010. According to research carried out by the market research organisation TNS CAPI Omnibus, 77% of adults in the UK now recognise the Fairtrade Mark [3].
When buying products that cannot be grown here and tend to be imported from poorer countries, such as tea, coffee, chocolate, tropical fruit and juice, and rice, look for the Fairtrade Mark. This is an independent consumer guarantee that the product has been produced and traded in accordance with Fairtrade standards [4], which stipulate that:
- A guaranteed minimum price is paid for the crop, which covers the costs of sustainable production;
- An additional sum known as the ‘Fairtrade premium’ is paid to the producers for investment in business development and social and environmental projects to benefit the wider community, and used to benefit the workers and their families on plantations;
- Small-scale producers are organised in a co-operative or other democratic organisation;
- Workers on plantations are guaranteed legal minimum wages or above, decent working conditions and the right to join a trade union;
- There is no forced or child labour;
- Minimum health and safety and environmental standards are complied with, and there is a commitment to improving worker conditions and sustainable farming methods.
Fairtrade standards are set and monitored by Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO), and use of the Fairtrade Mark in the UK is licensed by the Fairtrade Foundation. Some products are described as ‘fair trade’ or ‘fairly traded’, but only products with the Fairtrade Mark are independently certified to ensure the producers have received the benefits of the internationally agreed Fairtrade system.[5]
You can support Fairtrade by:
- Asking for Fairtrade certified products in your local retailer, restaurant or canteen – many wholesalers and distributors now offer a range of Fairtrade products in both retail and catering sizes. If Fairtrade products are not available, ask them why not.
- Using Fairtrade products at work, and explaining to your colleagues why this is important.
The degree to which companies participate in the Fairtrade system varies a great deal. You may prefer to buy from companies that commit all or most of their range to Fairtrade, or that work in close and long-term partnerships with their producers. Some companies work entirely to the principles of fair trade, and may be part-owned by producers in poorer countries or reinvest a percentage of their profits in supporting producer development programmes. There are also mainstream commercial suppliers who have incorporated a few Fairtrade certified options into their range as a result of customer demand.
For further information
- Details about Fairtrade products and standards are on the websites of the Fairtrade Foundation (http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/) and Fairtrade International (http://www.fairtrade.net/).
- For information about local Fairtrade Town campaigns, see http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get_involved_fairtrade_towns.htm.
- For the Fairtrade Foundation’s ‘Fairtrade at work’ campaign to switch workplaces to Fairtrade tea, coffee and other products, see http://www.fairtradeatwork.org.uk/index.html.
[1] Communication From The Commission To The Council And The European Parliament: Agricultural Commodity Chains, Dependence and Poverty - A proposal for an EU Action Plan (2004). See http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2004/may/tradoc_117111.pdf.
[2] ‘The Rural Poverty Trap’, Oxfam (2004). See http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/trade/bp59_unctad.htm
[3] TNS CAPI Omnibus data obtained from the Fairtrade Foundation
[4] For more information about Fairtrade standards, see http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/about_standards.htm
[5] The range of Fairtrade products is increasing all the time, and currently includes coffee, tea, cocoa and chocolate, sugar, bananas and other tropical fresh and dried fruit, wine and juices, herbs and spices, and rice and quinoa. See http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/ for a full list.
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