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About Fair Trade
Fair Trade in context |
Fair Trade – a different approach to global trade
Gandhi once said to ‘be the change’ you want to see in the world. Today, thanks to Fair Trade you can now buy the change.
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Fairness
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Dignity
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Profit
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Quality
These are not conflicting terms. The Fair Trade concept is beneficial
to both the producer
and the consumer. Companies that decide to buy Fair Trade products
attract ethical
consumers and sell high-quality products. The Fair Trade price in turn
leads to sustainable
development in the producer’s community.
Fair Trade is a market-driven commercial model, not a charity or developmental
aid mechanism. It is a growing trend for development based upon improved
trading relationships and commercial opportunities. Fair Trade empowers
producers and guarantees higher quality products for consumers.
Marginalized
producers become more involved with the global and local economy. This
involvement results in better living and working conditions for farmers,
which, in turn, will encourage greater equity in international trade.
Fair Trade is a global network that brings together several hundreds
of thousands of small-scale producers and workers on plantations and
in factories, thousands of trading and retail companies, NGOs and labeling
organizations into an organized trading system reaching tens of millions
of consumers.
"In the end, what Fair Trade is about is working with marginalized producers – people on the edge of the international trading system. It’s bringing them in and building their sustainability, their understanding of selling and trading and allowing them to survive often in situations where they probably wouldn’t. What Fair Trade brings is a long-term relationship and the ability to plan ahead. So it’s about empowerment and the growth of output and quality for the groups and to get to a point where they no longer need to engage with the Fair Trade relationship."
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Costa Rican Co-op El Dos member Alba Luz picking ripe coffee cherries Photo courtesy of Amy Hansen
For further information about these images, please contact Max Havelaar France. |
Case in point:
Oro Verde Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera
Oro Verde is a coffee-producing co-operative under the shade of the Amazon Jungle in Lamas, Peru. Oro Verde was founded in 1999 by 56 coffee-growing families. By 2005 Oro Verde grew to 450 associates organized in 18 democratic sectional committees. The small-scale coffee producers are united to confront the needs and economic problems within their communities as well as to establish and implement social and cultural programs. Their vision is to sustain an increasing socio-economic level and cultural awareness of its member families and their respective communities. They believe in the success of their business because they produce a high quality product, free of contaminants in accord with the environment.
Oro Verde consists of people from many different groups. The members
are people of Amazonian origins, descendants of the Chanka ethnos,
and immigrants from the Andean zone. Yet despite their ethnic difference,
they are united under the common goal of producing coffee to the highest
standards. Many communities like Oro Verde now have their own scales
and warehouses, which make them more independent and less susceptible
to fraud. Although there has been regional progress, only Oro Verde
and several other co-operatives have their own cuppers, specially trained
individuals that enable autonomous quality-control.
Fair Trade co-operatives are revolutionizing the coffee-trade in
Peru. Not only is Oro Verde constantly gaining new members, but it
has been able to expand its product range to include cocoa and sugar
cane. Additionally, the coffee it produces is of superior quality.
In 2002 and 2003 Oro Verde’s coffee respectively won the Silver
and Golden Grain Awards.
“We strive to be a model company, proprietary united, democratically controlled, and based on the cooperative principle where all members believe in the same ethical values.”
The Manager of Oro Verde Hiderico
Bocangel Zavala came to speak at Mount Holyoke College.
For more information click here or read the information brochure: Oro Verde
Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera ‘ De Lamas al Mundo’.
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Coffee growing within a diverse forest ecosystem under the shade canopy Photo courtesy of CECOCAFEN |
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2) three_pickers.tif For further information about these images, please contact Max Havelaar France