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Robert's Bee

The current ‘bee in my bonnet’ is fairtrade. One of the problems with the freetrade view of the world is that the rich large producers get richer whilst the poor get poorer. So OK we as consumers get cheap products but at what social cost? For example, many small farmers in the third world have to sell though middlemen and receive only part of the market price – this can be below the cost of production for many products especially those with very volatile prices (such as coffee and cocoa), whilst workers on plantations can see poor wages, unsafe conditions and a lack of freedom to unionise. Fairtrade aims to strengthen the position of poor, disadvantaged producers through providing better prices (which always cover the cost of production and include a social premium to improve their living and working conditions), advance payments to avoid smaller producer organisations from falling into debt, and contracts that allow for long term planning and sustainable production practices.

The fairtrade labelling organisations (which operate in 17 countries in Europe and North America) set standards for producers and trade – and, most importantly, continue to monitor that these are adhered to; they check the books, visit producers and also check up on the manufacturers who use the fairtrade logo on their products to ensure that these products are indeed sourced from fairtrade producers under the appropriate terms. By buying fairtrade products you can know that the third world producers are getting a fair deal and that you are helping in a very direct and practical way.

Around £45mn worth of fairtrade products were sold in the UK in 2001 benefiting a minimum of 120,000 farmers and workers in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Sales have been growing quickly too, up 40% from 2000 and up from only £2.75mn in 1994. Coffee is perhaps the best known fairtrade product, but bananas have seen the fastest growth since the introduction of fairtrade bananas a couple of years ago. You can buy the following fairtrade products, many from Budgens just round the corner:

• Coffee – Cafédirect 5065 instant coffee (we use this in church), and various ground coffees are available from Budgens, Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose and other supermarkets. You can even get fairtrade coffee from Costa and Starbucks outlets.
• Tea – Clipper Fairtrade Tea Bags (again being used in church) and others from e.g. Teadirect are also available from Budgens, Tesco, Sainsbury and elsewhere.
• Chocolate – Green & Black’s Maya Gold chocolate is fairtrade (but not their other varieties at the moment) and are easily obtainable from (guess what) Budgens, Tesco, Sainsbury et al. There are other brands too, such as Divine, and not forgetting the Dubble chocolate crispy crunch bar.

To find out more you can pick up a leaflet from The Fairtrade Foundation in the church lobby (while stocks last) or contact them directly, they send out an excellent newsletter (www.fairtrade.org.uk 020 7405 5942).

Robert Bigg

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