World Fair Trade Day

Last Friday, May 14, consumers, farmers and producers right around the globe celebrated WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY, an annual event to highlight Fairtrade and extol its achievements. More than 3000 farmers in the Windward Islands belong to this world-wide movement, and have, in spite of many difficulties, been able to export bananas to the United Kingdom since 2000. They are part of a global social movement which links producers in developing countries with consumers, mainly in developed countries.{{more}}

More than seven and a half million producers today produce over 10,000 fairtrade products, ranging from fresh fruit to processed cocoa and coffee products, as well as art and craft. Today, the Fairtrade concept has grown to engulf flowers, wine, cotton and cosmetics, with certified fairtrade farmers supplying the raw material and producers having to comply with strict fairtrade standards. As a result, worldwide fairtrade sales amounted to more than US$ 4.98 billion in 2008, sold in more than 70 countries.

The fairtrade concept is a straightforward one, fundamentally a pact between producers and consumers, with producers agreeing to meet certain social and environmental standards. In return they are guaranteed a basic minimum price, which must not fall below their cost of production, as well as collectively earning what is called a social premium, to be used for social and development projects. In the case of our banana farmers, for instance, the premium is US $1.00 per every box of bananas exported. This has been used in a wide range of projects, in education, health, sports and community development. The fairtrade organisations in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica have each been able to purchase a bus and thereby provide a valuable school bus service.

The Fairtrade concept, in a world where trading relations have been disadvantageous to producers in developing countries, has been around in one form or another for more than 40 years, but it was not until the late eighties that a formal fairtrade label was established. This was by the Dutch organisation, SOLIDARIDAD, with the launch of the Max Havelaar label to market fairtrade coffee from Mexican small producers in supermarkets in the Netherlands. By the early nineties this success was replicated in several European countries. In the United Kingdom, the Fairtrade Foundation was set up in 1992 to facilitate fairtrade sales there and, two years later, the first fairtrade product, chocolate, reached British consumers.The Fairtrade Foundation had worked tirelessly to promote fairtrade and sales of Windward fairtrade bananas.

Where the Windward Islands are concerned, the problems created for our banana industry by disputes in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) forced banana producers, through their umbrella body WINFA, to look for alternative marketing arrangements, and in 2000 WINFA exported the first batch of fairtrade bananas. It has gone on not only to consolidate fairtrade sales, but to advance the concept of empowerment of banana farmers. WINFA member organisations have now replaced the old Banana Growers’ Associations and, in 2008, for the first time, negotiated and signed contracts for the export of fairtrade bananas. This connects with the fairtrade mission:

“to connect disadvantaged producers with consumers, to promote fairer trading conditions and to empower producers to combat poverty, strengthen their position in world markets and take more control over their lives”.

A glimpse of the fairtrade market in the United Kingdom will reveal that it is growing dynamically. Thus, in 1998, total fairtrade sales in the UK amounted to £16.7 million. By 2004, this figure had ballooned to £140 million and, five years later, had catapulted to just under £800 million. This includes £157 million for coffee, £44 million worth of cocoa and chocolate products, £16 million on wines and £30 million for flowers. Fairtrade banana sales enjoyed phenomenal growth, from £7.8 million in 1998, to over £209 million in 2009. Fairtrade farmers have been able to get better prices than for conventional bananas and have had the benefits of the social premium mentioned above. But it has been the regional banana company, WINFRESH, (formerly WIBDECO), that has reaped real benefits as a registered fairtrade exporter, raking in profits in the process.

Consumer surveys in Europe, the UK and globally, have all been showing increasing recognition of the fairtrade label in consumer countries, a fact acknowledged by Mr. Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, in his message to mark World Fairtrade Day. “Europe”, he said, “is the hub of global fairtrade with some 60/70% of global fairtrade sales”. Mr. Buzek reiterated the European parliament’s support for fairtrade, which involves in sourcing fairtrade products (coffee, tea etc) for use by its members. A quote from him is appropriate to end:

“Fairtrade is not about charity – it is about making trade work for development and fighting against exploitation and exclusion of those whose voices are barely heard, children, women and indigenous people”.

Renwick Rose is a community activist and social commentator.