Fair World Marketplace is a fair trade store
(a Ten Thousand Villages partner store)
in Syracuse/DeWitt, New York
Business Week chronicles the debate over the increased marketing of fair-trade products by mass-market chains such as WalMart and Sam's Club:
... When Sam's started offering fair-trade tea, bananas, and roses earlier this year, it seemed like a huge win for the movement, which had already seen sales of fair-trade coffee grow tenfold from 2001 to 2006, to $730 million. "The idea of bringing high-quality items to our members at a great value that were produced in an environmentally and socially responsible way was just too compelling to pass up," says Gregg Spragg, executive vice-president for merchandising at Sam's Club, who replied to questions via e-mail.
But all the fair-trade cut flowers and a large quantity of tea, bananas, and sugar imported to the U.S. come from big plantations in places such as Ecuador and Colombia. "The large companies want to continue working with mass producers like plantations rather than going the tougher route, which is identifying small farmers and buying from them," says Carmen K. Iezzi, executive director of the Fair Trade Federation, a trade group of companies that say they are 100% committed to fair trade.
... Iezzi and others aim much of their criticism at TransFair USA, which is expanding fair-trade certification at a frenetic pace. They say that to keep up the pace of expansion, the organization is taking shortcuts that compromise the original concept. "When large, conventional plantations get fair-trade certified for improving practices, we consider that 'fair-trade lite,' " says Rink Dickinson, president and co-founder of Equal Exchange, a West Bridgewater (Mass.) company that is committed to buying only from farmer-run cooperatives. "There may be reforms, but it is a kindler, gentler version of the same old thing and falls short of what some of us are advocating." Rice, who started TransFair in 1999, disagrees. "The notion that the standards have been lowered is ill-informed," he says. "Our objective is to help the poor, whether they own a plot of land or not."
Part of the problem Rice and Wal-Mart face is the difficulty of applying the same standards of equity and economics to different types of crops. While half of the global production of coffee comes from small farms, it takes a larger operation to compete in bananas, tea, cut flowers, or sugar. "The disadvantaged majority would be locked out of the market if I were to look for only small farms for bananas and tea," says Rice.
In Fighting the Banana Wars and Other Fairtrade Battles, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK Harriet Lamb relives the dramatic campaigns and successes that have brought Fairtrade to this point, outlines the hurdles still to be overcome and shows what we can all do to help achieve global Fairtrade.
Meet Jorge Ramirez, manager of El Guabo, a banana co-operative in southern Ecuador, which has helped a small community of farmers to survive in the face of exploitation by multinationals; Amos Wiltshire, National Fairtrade Co-ordinator for Dominica, where the introduction of new Fairtrade orders from Tesco enabled a community blighted by crime, violence and gangs to regain order and self-respect; Bruce Crowther a local vet and campaigner who turned Garstang, Lancashire into the first Fairtrade Town in the UK; Ganga, a worker in an organic cotton farmer’s group in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, who thanks to Fairtrade has finally managed to buy a set of weighing scales to ensure the community is no longer cheated by money-lenders.
Click here for more.
A letter to The Hants Journal:
We the Grade 6 students of Brooklyn District School would like to propose a boycott against a number of international companies that produce chocolate. Those companies have been buying cocoa beans from farmers who produce their cocoa by child slave labour. They also have been giving the farmers an unfair price for their cocoa.
In countries like Ghana and Cote D’ivoire, children work on cocoa farms as slaves and are never paid for their work. The children are kidnapped in countries like Mali. The children are promised money for their work but they never get it.
The companies have not been paying the farmers they buy the cocoa beans from a fair price. The farmers get about $0.01 for every $0.60 chocolate bar the companies sell. The farmers have to use child slaves to grow and produce the cocoa beans because they can’t afford to pay workers.
We are asking you to help us boycott these companies so that they start to buy fair trade cocoa beans. Some 84 million pounds of cocoa beans are produced by fair trade cooperative farmers, but only 1 million pounds were sold at fair trade prices. Farmers deserve to sell all of the cocoa beans at a fair price.
From the Grade 6 students of Brooklyn District School
The BBC reports:
Wales has been declared the world's first fair trade nation by campaigners, for the progress it has made increasing the availability of such goods.
A number of targets were set in 2006 by the Wales Fair Trade Forum (WFTF) in consultation with independent experts to reach the fair trade nation goal.
These included having fair trade groups in 55% of towns and every county working towards fair trade status.
... The campaign in Wales has seen the WFTF, which has received funding from the assembly government, encourage schools, businesses and other organisations to switch to fair trade products.
It also obtained a commitment from the assembly government to use fair trade goods.
More than 1,000 volunteers have helped to persuade 58 towns, 380 schools and groups in all 22 Welsh counties to commit to learning about fair trade and use fair trade products.
An independent panel of fair trade experts from Britain and Europe reviewed all of the evidence collated and congratulated Wales on its progress.
The WFTF is now planning to implement the second phase of its campaign which will focus on increasing buying and using fair trade products.
Today on OneWorld.net, Sharon Cullars reports that Fair Trade is "sharing the wealth."
Tim Davies imagines what the next level of Fair Trade might look like. He wonders if the technologies of connectivity could be fine-tuned to provide consumers with (1) more producers' stories, (2) a sight of the whole supply chain for a particular product, (3) better information to guide decision making, and (4) closer connections with the producers themselves.
The Independent reports on the maturing of the fair trade movement:
... What was just two decades ago a prophetic alternative espoused by sandal-wearing beardies now has global sales worth more than £1.6bn. Its projects today touch the lives of seven million people, for the better, across the developing world.
This is an extraordinary story, and a good news one. ...
BIPPR writes:
The World Resources Institute has published a report on the 4 billion people who live on or below the poverty line - at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). They dwell not so much on the poverty, but on the fact that the BOP population segments are, for the most part, not integrated into the global market economy and do not benefit from it.
They write there is no proper market economy, either local or global, they have access to. Without access to larger trade markets they are disadvantaged and likely to remain in poverty. In local markets they are often exploited by their employers, or through middlemen. They do not have access to the basic economic resources, that we have in the West, for example, bank accounts, communication media, information libraries.
As a result - and this is surprising - they are likely to pay more for basic goods and services then wealthier people, either in cash or in the effort they must extend to obtain them.
New at Fair World Marketplace: Jocolat bars from Larabar!
"JŎCALAT is Fair Trade Certified™ chocolate in its purest form. Harmonizing with fruits and nuts, each flavor contains no more than seven simple ingredients. Deliciously rich. All Organic. No added sugars. Free of dairy, soy and gluten. A healthy indulgence you can feel good about eating."
We carry four flavors: chocolate, chocolate mint, chocolate almond and chocolate orange. Come try them all!
World Fair Trade Day & Mother’s Day
May 10th, 10-6
Join Us and Make a Statement!
One 12 oz bag Fair Trade coffee &
a Mother’s Day silk flower pin
given away every hour!
Fair trade coffee and other samples
Festivities throughout the day!
