Why is Fairtrade a good thing?
Fair trade makes the world a better place When you treat farmers and workers fairly, everyone benefits. Fair trade helps businesses source products that are ethically and sustainably produced while giving consumers confidence that the people behind the products they buy get a fair deal for their hard work. Farmers are involved and invested in the entire production process, and crops are grown and harvested in smaller quantities. As a result, Fair Trade food is fresher and tastier.Key benefits of Fairtrade Fairtrade delivers key benefits like fairer incomes, safer working conditions and stronger communities for farmers and workers worldwide. Explore how ethical trade supports sustainability, empowers producers and helps build a better future for people and planet.Fair trade is a trade arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable conditions. The fair trade movement advocates paying higher prices to exporters and improving social and environmental standards.More than half of the studies on this topic show that Fairtrade has a positive long-term impact on supply chains and trade relationships in some sectors, including higher incomes for farmers, decentralised governance, and greater collaboration between farmers and other supply chain actors.Fair trade (two words) refers to the broader movement working towards more trade justice and sustainable production and consumption worldwide, whereas Fairtrade (one word) refers to the certification and labelling system governed by Fairtrade International.
Who really benefits from Fairtrade?
Good for farmers and workers Unique among certification schemes, farmers and workers have equal representation in how Fairtrade is run. For farmers and workers, Fairtrade means: Better prices and the Fairtrade Premium to invest in their businesses and communities. An equal say in how Fairtrade is run. When we buy things that are Fairtrade, it means that the people who make them are treated fairly and paid a good wage. This helps them and their families have a better life. Fairtrade helps farmers and workers access more training and better machinery to improve their chances of running a successful business.Critics of the Fairtrade brand have argued that the system diverts profits from the poorest farmers, that the profit is received by corporate firms, and that this causes death and destitution. Evidence suggests that little of the extra money paid by consumers actually reaches the farmers.The more farmers and workers can sell on Fairtrade terms, the more they benefit economically. Producers earned more than €211 million in Fairtrade Premium in 2023. The Fairtrade Premium is an extra sum of money, paid on top of the selling price, that farmers or workers invest in projects of their choice.Fairtrade Standards are designed to improve soil and water quality, avoid harmful chemicals, eliminate deforestation, manage waste, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect biodiversity.Fairtrade is paying producers a reasonable price for the goods that they produce. Many farmers in LICs are paid very low wages. This means that they cannot escape poverty. Fairtrade gives farmers a better chance in life.
Why is Fairtrade so important to developing countries?
Fair Trade is important because it ensures farmers, fisher, and workers are paid fairly, work in safe conditions, and can invest in their communities. It transforms everyday purchases into lasting impact by supporting ethical trade, protecting the environment, and funding community-led development. For farmers and workers, Fairtrade means: Better prices and the Fairtrade Premium to invest in their businesses and communities. An equal say in how Fairtrade is run. Decent working conditions and a ban on discrimination, forced labour and child labour.Fair Trade is a social movement and market-based approach aimed at promoting sustainable development and improving the lives of marginalized producers, especially in the global South, by providing better trading conditions and protecting the rights of workers and farmers.The first fair trade agricultural products were coffee and tea, quickly followed by dried fruits, cocoa, sugar, fruit juices, rice, spices and nuts. Coffee quickly became the main growth engine behind fair trade: between 25 and 50% of the total alternative trading organization turnover in 2005 came from coffee sales.Fair Trade attempts to internalize environmental and social costs often externalized in conventional trade, leading to higher, but more accurate, pricing. For example, Fair Trade standards often encourage or require organic farming methods, agroforestry, and water conservation.Fair trade Certifiers and Membership Organizations all agree on these basic fair trade principles: Long-Term Direct Trading Relationships. Payment of Fair Prices. No Child, Forced or Otherwise Exploited Labor.
What are the four aims of Fairtrade?
Fairtrade standards Our mission is to connect disadvantaged farmers and workers with consumers, promote fairer trading conditions, and empower farmers and workers to combat poverty, strengthen their position and take more control over their lives. Fairtrade sets social, economic and environmental standards that both companies and farmers and workers must adhere to. For farmers and workers, the standards include protection of workers’ rights and the environment. For companies they include paying no less than the Fairtrade Minimum Price for a commodity.Fairtrade guarantees farmers a fair minimum price, protecting them if market prices drop. Farmers also receive a premium to invest in their communities – like schools, clean water, and better tools.The Fairtrade Standards aim to provide a structure for sustainable agricultural production, protect workers’ rights, and distribute power in trade relations more equally between producers and buyers.The Fairtrade Premium is a sum of money that farming cooperatives earn on top of the selling price whenever they are able to sell their products on Fairtrade terms.
What are the benefits of Fairtrade for kids?
The fairtrade system plays an essential role in promoting sustainable, ethical and climate-friendly practices. When teaching children about sustainability and climate change, it is important to also ensure they also understand the significance of fairtrade, and what it means for the world around them. The Fairtrade Minimum Price is supporting the farmers that grow products such as cocoa, coffee and bananas to become more income-secure and less vulnerable to poverty. Fairtrade is gradually empowering communities to organise into cooperatives and improve their negotiating position within the supply chain.Fair trade allows farmers, producers and artisans to be paid a fair price for the things they make and to have better working conditions. Some products that are not fair trade are made by workers who are not paid enough to live. The people might have to work in unsafe conditions and they might be children.For farmers and workers, Fairtrade means: Better prices and the Fairtrade Premium to invest in their businesses and communities. An equal say in how Fairtrade is run. Decent working conditions and a ban on discrimination, forced labour and child labour.Fairtrade aims to help farmers and workers in developing countries receive a fair price for the products they produce. Fairtrade ensures better working conditions and job security for producers, enabling them to improve and have more control over their lives.
How can Fairtrade reduce poverty?
Fair trade is the answer to unjust world trade. Living wages, fair prices and decent working conditions help to improve the situation of disadvantaged people worldwide. Additional premiums for community projects can be invested in education, health or the conversion to organic farming. Fair trade is the practice of giving a fair price to the goods people in developing countries are selling. By importing and buying fair trade products, people living in poverty are provided with fair wages, safe working conditions and resources for their communities.Fair trade makes the world a better place When you treat farmers and workers fairly, everyone benefits. Fair trade helps businesses source products that are ethically and sustainably produced while giving consumers confidence that the people behind the products they buy get a fair deal for their hard work.It is because Fair Trade is aiming at producing a product without the exploitation of environment and the labor. Free Trade aims at generating more profit regardless of the specific production methods. In the ideal world, maybe, a thriving economy can be ideally achieved by the coexistence of both Free and Fair Trade.By supporting and purchasing Fair Trade goods, you are helping to progress climate justice around the world, and giving producers and farmers the support they need to reduce their carbon emissions and produce goods more sustainably.
What are the three main principles of Fairtrade?
Fair trade Certifiers and Membership Organizations all agree on these basic fair trade principles: Long-Term Direct Trading Relationships. Payment of Fair Prices. No Child, Forced or Otherwise Exploited Labor. Shoppers have generated 1 billion Euros in Fairtrade Premium for farmers and workers, over the past 25 years. Fairtrade is the first organisation to require living wages be paid to garment workers. Fairtrade’s Textile Standard aims to empower factory workers and enable them to tackle challenging working conditions.Principle Four: Payment of a Fair Price A fair price is one that has been mutually agreed by all through dialogue and participation, which provides fair pay to the producers and can also be sustained by the market. Where Fair Trade pricing structures exist, these are used as a minimum.Fairtrade puts more money into the hands of farmers and workers through a unique pricing model, sets and monitors rigorous standards at every step of the supply chain, supports producers through local and regional expert networks, and creates demand for ethical goods in countries like the US.Fairtrade’s internationally-agreed Fairtrade Standards help farmers and workers tackle poverty on their own terms in some of the poorest countries in the world.