Sheffield Initiative for Fairtrade
The FAIRTRADE Mark is an independent consumer label that appears on UK products as a guarantee that the producers have received a fair deal.
The FAIRTRADE Mark guarantees that farmers in developing countries have been paid a fair price that covers the cost of sustainable production and living.
The FAIRTRADE Mark guarantees basic health and safety conditions.
The FAIRTRADE Mark guarantees that farmers have been paid a "Fairtrade premium" to be used for the benefit of the community - providing clean water, schools improved health care etc.
For farmers, Fairtrade guarantees a minimum price that covers the cost of production and provides a basic living wage. Smallholders are organised in co-operatives or other organisations with a democratic, participative structure. Crops are bought directly from these organisations at a guaranteed price.
For workers (such as those on large tea plantations), Fairtrade guarantees decent and safe working conditions and wages that meet international and local labour standards. Workers are given the right to join trade unions, and good housing when relevant. On plantations and in factories, minimum health and safety as well as environmental standards must be complied with, and no child or forced labour can occur.
Fairtrade also gives a social premium for farmers and workers to invest in community projects. This gives producers a degree of security that allows them to plan for the future. Social premiums have allowed producers to improve their homes, improve education and healthcare, build roads, invest in their businesses or diversify into other income-generating projects.
The range of Fairtrade products is increasing all the time and is too big to list here but as well as tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate and biscuits/snack bars there is an increasing range of seasonally available fresh fruit and vegetables (avocados, mangoes, oranges, pears, pineapples). And then there are jams, honeys, cakes, wines, footballs and roses...
Sales of Fairtrade goods are set to top £100 million for the first time this year. Sales have doubled roughly every two years and 39% of the British public now recognise the Fairtrade Mark (up from 25% last year). Cafédirect's annual share of the instant coffee market grew by 28% in a market sector that is only growing by 2.7% each year. These are amazing success stories and have been achieved without any of the major advertising promotions that a large multi-national company could afford.
Fairtrade has grown by word of mouth and many companies can only look on and envy its success. Every church fair trade stall, every volunteer who has helped to hand out samples in Fairtrade Fortnight, everyone who has made a point of asking the store manager for Fairtrade products has contributed to this success.
The success of Fairtrade shows that another way of doing business is possible. Conventional business wisdom says that Fairtrade shouldn't work- conventional wisdom is clearly wrong! Fairtrade is no longer a niche market - Fairtrade coffees account for 18% of the roast and ground coffee market - that is a mainstream market force!