Fair Trade is a registered certification label used on products sourced from producers in developing countries. It was introduced to ensure better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in 74 third-world-countries involving more than 1.65 million people worldwide with currently 1.226 Fairtrade Certified Organisations distributing the products.
These are the facts. But why is it so important?
Fair Trade is one of the greatest successes of the ethical consumer movement. It has become a mainstay on supermarket shelves appearing on food products as diverse as wine and bananas.
It is the best independent guarantee of a better deal to farmers in the developing world. It means that the workers involved will personally receive a better price for their goods, decent working conditions, local sustainability, investment in their communities and fairer terms of trade than they might otherwise receive on the open market. It will most likely transform the life of a farmer in a poor country: it can be the difference between warm clothes for his family, or going cold; education for his children or staying at home; vital medical services in the village, or traveling for miles for simple health care.
Environmental protection is a key element of Fairtrade’s view of sustainability, including smallholder farming and larger hired labor production. Through training the farmers are encouraged to transition to environmentally friendly practices. It is one of the goals for a better environment to achieve sustainable production and mitigate the impact of climate change.
Wikipedia Commons
There is still much work to be done to continue the positive impact of Fair Trade. "Fair Trade is all about improving lives, but we don't do that through charity- there are no hand outs in the Fair Trade world." - Paul Rice, President and CEO of Fair Trade USA
📽 1) Educational (9:12) - Fair Trade: A Just World Starts with You | Benjamin Conard | TEDxSUNYGeneseo
📽 2) Fair Trade: Improving Lives (2.04)
"Fair Trade is all about improving lives, but we don't do that through charity- there are no hand outs in the Fair Trade world." - Paul Rice, President and CEO of Fair Trade USA
Reference
Fairtrade, 2016. (accessed 19.01.2018)
http://fairtrade.com.au/Fairtrade-in-Action