What is Fairtrade?
Why Promote Palestinian products under the Fairtrade label?
What is the Fairtrade minimum price?
Is buying Fairtrade products a good idea, given concerns on climate change?
Can buying Fairtrade products help to tackle climate change?
Some people say ‘buy local’ rather than ‘buy Fairtrade’.
What is Fairtrade?
Fairtrade is about farmers getting fair prices for their produce, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. This is done by making companies pay fair prices (which must never fall lower than the market price) to the farmer. Fairtrade combats the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives. It gives them more power over their destinies.
Why promote Palestinian products under the Fairtrade label?
Palestinian farmers suffer many of the same problems that face many 'traditional' third world farmers. They too also struggle to get a fair price for their products; they also have problems getting their products into Israel to trade due to the many road blockades that are in place. The separation barrier that was erected to limit the movement of Palestinians coming to and from Israel has also separated many farmers with their land, this limitation on their movement results in them not being able to tend to their land. This disruption of agriculture continues to fuel the poor economic situation in Palestinian territories. Fairtrade to a Palestinian farmer is not only the difference between whether they can feed their families or not but also the difference as to whether they can educate their families.
What is the Fairtrade minimum price?
The Fairtrade minimum price is the lowest possible price that a buyer of Fairtrade products must pay the producer. The minimum price is set based on a consultative process with Fairtrade producers and traders and guarantees that producers receive a price which covers the cost of production. When the market price is higher than the Fairtrade minimum price, the market price is payable.
Is buying Fairtrade products a good idea, given concerns on climate change?
By buying products that carry the FAIRTRADE Mark, shoppers can be assured that disadvantaged producers and workers in developing countries are getting a better deal: receiving a fair and stable price for their products which covers their costs of production; benefiting from longer-term trading relationships; receiving the Fairtrade premium for investment in social and economic development projects. Fairtrade has proved to be an extremely successful model of how people-centered trade can effectively reduce poverty and improve livelihoods.
The public concern around climate change and carbon emissions has been growing rapidly in recent months and there is no doubt that far-reaching global action has to be taken now to deal with global warming. However if the debate around this issue becomes overly obsessed with the question of food miles, this could severely damage opportunities for sustainable forms of export agriculture to contribute to the economic and social development of poor producers.
Can buying Fairtrade products help to tackle climate change?
The Fairtrade system includes environmental standards as part of producer certification. The standard requires producers to work to protect the natural environment and make environmental protection a part of farm management. Producers are also encouraged to minimize the use of energy, especially energy from non-renewable sources. To give two examples, tea workers in India have invested some of their Fairtrade premium into replacing the traditional wood-burning heating with a solar-paneled system. Coffee farmers in Costa Rica have used the premium to replant trees to prevent soil erosion and have invested in environmentally friendly ovens, fuelled by recycled coffee hulls and the dried shells of macadamia nuts. This means that they no longer need to cut forest trees and so can preserve the rainforest and the oxygen they produce.
By choosing Fairtrade products, you can therefore help producers preserve their own environment as well as have a positive social benefit in their community.
Some people say ‘buy local’ rather than ‘buy Fairtrade’.
Fairtrade isn’t in competition with locally produced products. Fairtrade focuses by and large on tropical agricultural products such as coffee and bananas that can’t be grown in temperate climates or products that can’t be grown in sufficient quantities in various non third world countries. For some items such as honey and flowers, local supply is not able to meet the total demand- and so imports are necessary to keep up with consumers’ shopping preferences. Other products, such as apples, are seasonal and for as long as shoppers want to buy apples out of season, there is a demand for fruit from other countries. Often the choice facing shoppers is not necessarily between local honey and Fairtrade certified honey but between Fairtrade honey and conventional honey imported from, say, the US or China. It is up to each person to weigh up these choices and shop accordingly.
Ultimately, it is up to each person to do what they see as being in the interests of people and the planet. What is important is that we all try to make informed choices wherever possible.
